Janis Rae Bonnema

Janis "Jan" Yelinek Bonnema, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, passed away peacefully on August 24, 2026, at the age of 88.

Born on March 30, 1938, in Wadsworth, Ohio, to Lilian and Merle Yelinek, Jan was strong-willed and independent from the start. She graduated from Wadsworth High School in 1956, attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and completed her physical therapy training at Ohio State University in Columbus in 1961.

After finishing her training, Jan moved to Denver, Colorado - drawn to the mountains she would love for the rest of her life - and began her career as a hospital physical therapist, working at Denver Presbyterian Hospital from 1961 to 1974. It was in Denver that she met Robert "Rob" Bonnema. The two married in 1962, beginning a life together that would last more than sixty years.

Jan was never one to be slowed down by challenges - especially not someone else's. Undeterred by the physical challenges Rob faced after childhood polio, she worked full time, cared for him through surgeries, and cared for their infant son, all at once: a balancing act almost unheard of for a working woman in the 1960s. She often joked that she should have gone into nursing instead of physical therapy, since she never could stand the paperwork.

In 1974, Jan and Rob moved their family to Mound, Minnesota, when Rob took a position with Honeywell. Jan continued her physical therapy career in Minnesota, working at Twin Birch Nursing Home in Mound and at Ridgeview Hospital in Waconia, and later at Wayzata Physical Therapy. When she retired from physical therapy, she wasn't finished working - she took on a new challenge as Shared Ministry Coordinator at St. John's Lutheran Church in Mound, a role she held from 1995 to 2004.

Jan carried real strength through her life, including through her own quiet struggles with depression, without ever losing her independence or her drive to care for the people around her. She doted on her grandchildren, Max and Brooke, who brought her tremendous joy. She loved to travel, making it as far as Israel and the Netherlands among many other destinations, often experiencing her trips through the lens of her camera. She loved food long before "foodie" was a word, even though she never much cared for cooking it herself - her favorite treat was mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate sauce. She filled her home with Mata Ortiz and other southwestern pottery she collected over the years. She was rarely without a book - often a Harlequin or mystery novel - and almost always had a stack of them close at hand.

Jan was preceded in death by her husband, Rob, in 2025; her parents, Lilian and Merle Yelinek; and her niece, Kris Schaefer Rogers. She is survived by her children, Brad Bonnema and Robin Bean, Corey and Susan Bonnema, and Amy and Troy Sinykin; her grandchildren, Max and Brooke Sinykin; her sister, Kay Poskarbiewicz, and brother-in-law, Ed Poskarbiewicz; and her brother-in-law, Jim Bonnema.

No memorial service is planned. Instead, Jan's children and grandchildren will spread her ashes together with Rob's in the Colorado mountains, one of the couple's favorite places.