Bonnie Scott Kremer

1941 - 2022

On Saturday, January 8, 2022, Bonnie Scott Kremer, loving wife, fiercely devoted mother and grandmother, went home to be with the Lord at the age of 80. We will all miss Bonnie's beautiful smile, her quirky sense of humor, and her contagious laugh.

Bonnie Adele Scott was born in Coral Gables, Florida, on February 27, 1941, to Mary and Logan Scott. Bonnie's childhood, as the third of five spirited Scott daughters (Polly, Midge, Bonnie, Dicksy, and Laurie), was a constant adventure as her dad was a pilot for Pan American. Bonnie and her sisters lived in Rio de Janeiro, Los Altos, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii, where Bonnie graduated from Roosevelt High School. One of her favorite childhood memories was a year-long trip around the world when she and her sisters were taught by a tutor.

Always a social butterfly and curious learner, Bonnie attended college at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon and joined Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Her love of reading led her to major in English.

It was at Willamette that Bonnie met her lifelong buddy and love of her life, Peter Kremer, during a psychology course her sophomore year. They married on June 4, 1962, the day after their college graduation. The young couple moved to their first home, an apartment in Palo Alto, where Peter attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business. During their GSB years, Bonnie and Peter made lifelong friends who have continued to stay close half a century later.

Just before Peter graduated, Bonnie and Peter started their family with the arrival of a daughter, Leslie. Daughter Audrey joined the family three years later after they had relocated to Southern California.

Bonnie dedicated her life to making a wonderful, loving home for her husband and daughters, first in Pasadena, then in Pacific Palisades and finally in Newport Beach and Ketchum, Idaho.

Bonnie was a talented chef who, as a young wife and mother, cooked her way through, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (Julia Child). She was ahead of her time in curating healthy foods for her family. While her young girls at times longed for Twinkies and Wonder Bread, they are now grateful for her fantastic filet of sole, asparagus vinaigrette, paella, and the taste for healthy food that she instilled in them.

An avid reader, she had many late nights when she simply "couldn't put down" a novel until the wee hours. She read to her girls daily and grew in them a love of reading that is a legacy continued to the next generation, as two of her granddaughters are English teachers!

Bonnie excelled in creating fun. She liked throwing dinner parties, singing along to music in the car, dancing, skiing, hiking, and other activities that involved being with family and friends. She planned exceptionally memorable weddings for both of her daughters at their home in Ketchum, Idaho.

We called Bonnie our "fashionista," because she was always impeccably turned out thanks to her gift for style and her enjoyment of shopping. Her family definitely reaped the benefits when "Nani" (what we all call her now) lavished stylish gifts on us over the years in an attempt to get our style up to her level.

All of Bonnie's childhood travel contributed to her insatiable, lifelong passion for travel. She and Peter explored the world together and Bonnie became an expert at itineraries and planning, much to the enjoyment of her family and friends. It was only during the past decade, due to Peter's declining health, that her travels were curtailed. She refused to go anywhere without her buddy.

Bonnie enjoyed and was gifted at many things. Due to her constant reading and her great curiosity for travel and learning, many of Bonnie's favorite pastimes revolved around knowledge and words. She enjoyed challenging crossword puzzles and obliterating her family in Scrabble, Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit. More recently, she became an avid Bridge player and Ancestry researcher.

Bonnie loved all of her people very well. But by far Bonnie's greatest love was Peter. Her final years were spent by his side, worrying about and caring for her best friend and lifelong companion.

Everyone who knew Bonnie knew that she was almost always late to arrive, except, it seems, in getting herself to heaven. This time, she was much too early for our liking.

Bonnie was preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Logan. She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Peter, her four sisters, her two daughters and sons-in-law (Leslie and David Seidner and Audrey and Steve Monke), and her nine grandchildren: Madeleine, Veronica, Peter, and Eleanor Seidner, Gretchen (Ruch), Meredith, Charlotte, John, and Owen Monke.

A celebration of Bonnie's positive impact on all of our lives will be held on February 27, 2022, at 5:00 pm at the Big Canyon Country Club.

Bonnie believed in the power of literacy and education and especially enjoyed supporting innovative educational institutions like The Samueli Academy. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Bonnie's memory may be made to The Samueli Academy.