Jewel J. Bonat, Hamilton
1914 - 2007
Jewel J. Bonat, 93, of Hamilton, died Monday, Dec. 24, 2007, at Greenwood County Hospital in Eureka.
Arrangements will be announced by Wilson Funeral Home in Madison.
HAMILTON
The funeral will be at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Wilson Funeral Home in Madison. Graveside Masonic Rites at 3:15 p.m. Friday will be conducted by his nephew, Bob Bonat, and grandson, Terry Thornhill, at White Chapel Memorial Gardens in Wichita.
The family suggests that, instead of flowers, memorial contributions be made to Midian Shrine Plane of Mercy Fund and sent in care of the Wilson Funeral Home, P.O. Box 488, Madison, KS 66860.
Mr. Bonat died Monday, Dec. 24, 2007, at Eureka. He was 93.
He became an apprentice watchmaker in Wichita at the age of 15 and continued in this occupation the rest of his life. He owned jewelry stores in Wichita, Eureka and Hamilton.
The son of Frank and Lena Orler Bonat, who immigrated from Mezzano, Italy, to America, he was born Feb. 28, 1914, at Bache, Okla. His early education was in Radley.
He married Maxine Foster on Dec. 7, 1952, at Council Grove. She survives.
Mr. Bonat was a member of the First Baptist Church in Wichita when he was young and worked with the church Young People’s organization. He was a member of the American Watchmakers Association, president of the Wichita Horological Association from 1940 through 1943 and was treasurer of the Wichita Watchmakers Association. He was a lifetime member of the Masons and a 32nd degree Mason. He originally was a member of the Sunflower Chapter in Wichita and later, the Hamilton Masonic Lodge and Madison 186 Lodge. In Wichita, he was a 50-year member of the Masons and the Midian Shrine Scottish Rite and also was a member of the Greenwood County Shrine Club. As a Shriner, he helped take children from Hamilton to the Shrine Circus in Wichita for several years. He was a member of the former Hamilton chapter of Eastern Star, now at Gridley, where he was Past Patron. He also was an active member of the Lions Club in Hamilton and helped with the annual Pancake Day fundraiser.
He is also survived by two daughters, Carolyn Thornhill and Vickey Alexander, both of Missouri; 11 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. Another daughter, Loretta Bodenhamer, died in 1976. Two brothers and one sister also died earlier.