The heavens are alive with The Sound of Music and laughter as on Sunday, April 12th, Bonnie Bower was welcomed to her eternal home by her family and friends.

Bonnie L. Katzenberger was born on September 25th, 1935 to parents Floyde and Marie Katzenberger in Des Moines, IA.  She attended the historical Trinity Methodist Church where she met, in her own words, "a tall, dark, handsome young man with the greatest smile" aka Galen Bower, at her Sunday night MYF meetings. She graduated from the old Des Moines North High School in 1953 and began dating Galen when he was home on leave from the Navy.  On November 16th, 1956 the two were united in marriage in the same church in which they met and where Bonnie was a 4th grade Sunday school teacher.

Making their first home in Des Moines, together they had three daughters, Susan, Lois and Julianne.  In April 1970, Bonnie and her family moved to Sigourney, IA after purchasing the Sigourney Dry Cleaners.  They operated the dry cleaners until retirement in 1995.  In addition to the cleaners, she was a co-owner of D&B Antiques with Galen and a couple of their closest friends.  Bonnie was the B in D&B!!

Following retirement. Bonnie, alongside Galen, worked at Lake Red Rock in Pella for 12 years, checking in and out all of the happy campers.  10 of those years were spent at Howell Station, and it was there that she met and made many more everlasting friends.  They moved to Toledo, IA in 2002 and later moved to the Iowa Veteran's Home in 2019.

In her spare time, besides camping, Bonnie loved to quilt, embroider, cross-stitch, play cribbage, bridge and pinochle, complete jigsaw and crossword puzzles, play slots at the casino and Chinese checkers with her girls. Most of all she loved to watch and sing along to musicals.  The Sound of Music was her all-time favorite.  She enjoyed incorporating songs into some of her children's most unforgettable traditions like singing "We're off to see the Wizard" whenever our family left town to travel to Des Moines or on any other family vacation trip.

Bonnie is survived by Galen Bower, her husband of nearly 70 years, daughters Susan Schafer of Boone, Lois Leeper (Pat) and Julianne Bodensteiner (Bill) of Des Moines.  She has 5 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren and another great grandson due at the end of May.    She was preceded in death by her parents, 3 sisters June, RoseMarie and Shirlie, and 1 brother, Faye.

Visitation will be held on Monday, April 20th at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama, IA from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.   "FUN"eral services will be at 2:00 PM, April 20th in the chapel at the Iowa Veteran's Home in Marshalltown.  A memorial will be created in her name for a memorial bench to be placed at Lake Red Rock's Howell Station.

The family would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all the staff from Heinz Hall independent living to Malloy 3 South extended care at the Iowa Veteran's Home.  Your kindness and compassion is unwavering.    We would also like to thank Unity Point Hospice for supporting the family and assisting our mom in her transition to Somewhere Over the Rainbow.