Dec. 21, 1940 – Jan. 4, 2018

 

JONESVILLE — Services for Jack Oliver Bonner, 77, of the Trinity community near Jonesville, will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Young’s Funeral Home Chapel in Jonesville with the Rev. Jack Knapp officiating.

Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until service time Saturday at the funeral home.

Mr. Bonner was born Dec. 21, 1940, on a third-generation family farm in the Mississippi River Delta community of Turner in Phillips County, Ark., the son of Oliver Gaines Bonner and Geraldine Brown Bonner.

After graduation from Marvell High School in Arkansas, Jack took a job as a day laborer at Bunge USA, a grain buying facility near Helena, Ark. He would spend the next 43 years employed by Bunge at a number of locations. Utilizing the work ethic and humanitarian qualities learned on the Bonner family farm, Jack advanced with Bunge to manage facilities in Arkansas, Selma, Ala., Greenville, Mermentau, Vidalia and Jonesville.

Mr. Bonner retired from Bunge in 2005, and worked as a consultant in the grain industry for a time. In 2007, he was employed as manager of the farmer-owned C-C Planters Gin in Jonesville and remained there until his death.

Early in his association with the gin, Mr. Bonner was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma by Dr. Steven Sacarro of Alexandria, La. He was treated by physicians at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for the last nine years.

Throughout his life, Mr. Bonner had been an avid golfer, angler, duck hunter, student of history and a fan of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks as well as the Louisiana State University Tigers.

He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Dennis Charles Bonner.

Survivors include his wife of 27 years, Florene King Bonner; two children, Jack Kevin Bonner and wife, Patricia, of West Monroe, La., and Leigh Ann Ingram and husband, Todd, of Jena, and their mother, Ann Floyd Bonner; three siblings, Monty Joe Bonner and wife, Anita, of Eads, Tenn., Nancy Olivia Hicks of Fayetteville, Ark., Connie Iris Cooper and husband, Johnny, of Marvell; two stepchildren, Bobby Studebaker Jr. of Katy, Texas, and Kimberly Studebaker of Breaux Bridge, La.; three grandchildren, Ethan Gainers Bonner and wife, Rachel, Caitlin Rebecca Bonner and Ella Grace Bonner, all of West Monroe, La.; step-grandchildren, Avery Paul Dubois of New Orleans, Zachary Arthur Brazda of Arnaudville, La., Gabrielle Cheverie, LePec France, Adrienne Jewel Studebaker of Katy; great-grandchild, Abbot Jack Bonner; and step-great-great-grandchildren, Hallie Brazda, Celia Cheverie and Chloe Cheverie.

Pallbearers will be Ethan Bonner, Blake Dennis Hicks, Zachary Bonner, Avery Dubois, Ross Rivers Poland, David Harlan King, Leigh Davin King, Michael Gene Posey and Michael Spivey.

Honorary pallbearers will be owners of C-C Planters Gin, Kenneth McClure, Tom Cotton, Rick Krahn, Yancy Gray, Gary Wood, Dale Fannin, Gerald Boelte, Carvel White, Kenneth Cooper, Chris Freeman, Paul Cater, Al Guido, Charles Wood, Lester Fannin, Tim White, George LaPrairie, Hugh Bonner, Darrell Bonner, Gaines Bonner, Austin King, Ray King, Shep Poland, Richard Milton, Jonathan Anderson, Pam Riggs, Patricia White, Jamie Ford and Melvin Purvis.