Bonnie Crysdale, my wife, the mother of daughter Cris Ann, son Kent and sister of Barbara Murdock, dropped from our lives in the space of two minutes without warning at age 77 from a heart attack at a Thanksgiving party with family and friends all around her.
It was what we had often talked about and what we all say we all want – to be in perfect health until the day you die – except that it was 10 years too early. Words can’t express how much I’m going to miss her. She was the 30-year love of my life.
Bon was one of three girls born to parents of LDS-stock who, gratefully, spent more time taking the girls fishing than to church. Her father taught her how to bait her own hook, a principle she later extended to encouraging women to take control of their own lives. That fierceness was what attracted me to her after her first marriage evaporated.
We traveled, biked, climbed 13ers, cross-country skied, rafted rivers and hiked the deserts. The latter brought us to Moab, where we would crash on Jean McDowell’s floor.
In 2000, we bought a place on Rosetree Lane that our friends told us we couldn’t afford. Two years later we spent two years building our own house and still remained married at the end (hallelujah!), giving rise to one of my favorite lines: never argue with a woman with a nail-gun in her hand. She had cleverly designed the house with her own dedicated sewing/quilting room. She went on to appropriate the basement with a long-arm quilting machine, figuring it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Though she didn’t ask forgiveness either.
I’m not exaggerating when I say she was a mentor, an inspiration and a friend to so many people. I hope you can come to her memorial service on Saturday, Dec. 28, at the MARC from 2 to 6 p.m. in the Stage Room for a celebration of her life. There will be food, wine and beer, hugs, quilts, a lot of talking and a lot of pictures. That’s what she wanted. I hope you’ll tell your stories, anecdotes and remembrances of her to the rest of us.
Please consider donations to your favorite charity in lieu of flowers.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.SpanishValleyMortuary.com
