Bonnie Dee Carter-Butchko, 82 years young, passed Thursday morning June 2, 2022 after a very long painful battle with dementia and congestive heart failure in her residential home in Costa Mesa, California.  Bonnie was lovingly known by her daughter Candy as her "Cupcakes", "Her little sunshine" and by friends as "Bon Bon".

Bonnie was born in Pittsburgh, PA on February 15, 1940 to Charles Davis Carter and Gertude Hazel Korff Carter.  (Both preceded in death in 1977 and 1998). She had an older brother Gary (Deceased 2007), twin sister Carol Lee (Deceased 2021), and a younger brother Richard.  She had an Aunt Jean (Deceased 2004) whom she was very close to.

Bonnie moved from Pittsburgh to Redondo Beach, CA when she was young and later to Danville, California, a quaint little town outside San Francisco.  She was so proud to have grown up there.  She LOVED San Francisco and often hung out at the local Buena Vista, drinking Irish coffees. She graduated high school in 1958 from San Ramon Valley High School.  In high school she worked at the Village theater and Valley Medlyn's.  She later went to college at Chico State University (CA) and then Edinboro University ( PA).  Like her mother and aunt, she went to school to study to be a school teacher.  However, she settled down and married William Paul Butchko on Dec. 26, 1959 (Who also preceded her in death in 2013) and started a family.

Bonnie and Bill both had a love for jazz.   He later made her a singer of his band "A Different Drummer".  She then formed another band called "The New Horizons" and played all over Pittsburgh and her hometown of Danville.  Her daughter Candy has fond memories listening to her practice in their music room.  She honestly had the voice like no other, an angel. She also had a modeling career and flew out to New York several times a month.  No surprise there….she was beautiful!

Bonnie and her husband raised two daughters Shawn Eve Butchko (Pittsburgh, PA) and Candy Joy Duncan (Andrew) (Laguna Beach, CA). She was the picture perfect mom one could only dream of.  She was loving, supportive, selfless, and very involved in her daughters' extracurricular activities including being a Brownie mom and cheerleading coach.  There is nothing she wouldn't have done for her daughters. She is also survived by her three grand daughters Shawna, Cinder, and Tessa and one grandson Primo. She also left three great grandchildren Claire, Anthony, and Brenden. She was preceded in death by one granddaughter Mandy Joy (2008).  Her other loves were her dear fur babies, Charlie and Pebbles who crossed the rainbow bridge and now they are united together again.

When  her husband passed away in 2013 there was no question for her daughter Candy that she needed to move Bonnie closer to her in California.  Her dementia was exceeding at a rapid pace and was creating more medical problems as a result of it.

Bonnie was so happy to have spent her last years having game night with her friends in Pittsburgh (Chris, George and Linda). She would later make many new friends at her new assisted living facility in Orange, CA.   Staff even called her and her two friends "triple trouble".  They were always planning their "Escape".  She was happiest spending time and the holidays with the Duncan family, Candy's in-laws.  SO  much happiness, joy, and laughter.  Just one day after Christmas she would innocently ask if we could do Christmas again with the Duncan's (Not realizing Christmas had just passed).

When people think of Bonnie, they think of Snow White walking and all the bees, butterflies and birdies following her.  Everyone who met her loved her, and gravitated to her.  She was beyond generous and truly one of a kind.

Her silly shenanigans and constant laughter was infectious to all that met her.  Her phenomenal cooking, trips to Conneaut Lake, and just laying in bed giggling will just be some of the few things missed.  No matter where or what she did, she made people of all ages and backgrounds heart's smile.  She was Candy's rock, her hero, her best friend. FOREVER.  She was beautiful inside and out.  She will now be able to reconnect with her twin sister Carol and the family who she loved and lost, hands & paws.

Bonnie will be laid to rest at a future time with her daughter Candy when the time arrives (whom both were inseparable) at Pacific View Memorial Park in Newport Beach, California.