Jasper Kenneth Bonham

BONHAM, Jasper Kenneth

Scholarship, diligence, and devotion to his family and his faith were the hallmarks of the life of Jasper Kenneth Bonham, who died of causes related to old age on April 2, 2004 in Redwood City, CA. He was born in Clinton, Utah to Jane May Stokes Bonham and Silas Sheldon Bonham on June 29, 1910. After attending schools in Davis County, he furthered his education by attending and graduating from what was then Weber State College, after which he graduated with honors from Utah State University in Logan with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He subsequently did graduate work at the University of Utah, the University of Southern California and at Sacramento State University. He was active in the Democratic Party during his college years. A faithful life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he fulfilled a mission from 1928 to 1930 to Eastern Canada and New England. He married Helen Ella Painter of Plain City, UT on May 19, 1937 in the Salt Lake LDS temple. After moving to California in 1943, he served as teacher of several gospel doctrine classes, Branch President of the Indio Branch of the LDS Church, Bishop of the Sacramento Second Ward, High Priest Group Leader, and temple worker at the Oakland LDS temple. He taught school in Davis County during the early years of his marriage, and after his move to California began work with the California State Department of Employment, eventually rising to office management and finally to the post of California State Supervisor of Intrastate Claims. Besides their church work, he and his wife shared an interest in geology and Bonham was president of the Sacramento Mineral Society for a number of years. He is survived by one daughter, Cheryl Bonham North; his granddaughter Karine Greger Dunning; grandson Dr. Christopher Karl Greger; and two great grandchildren, James Greger Dunning and Alison Camille Dunning, all of California. His survivors in Utah are his siblings, Myron ODell Bonham; Mildred Bonham Stark; and Velma Bonham Nelson, as well as a number of nieces and nephews throughout the U.S. Family and friends are invited to attend a graveside service conducted by Bonhams nephew, Bishop William Kenneth Bonham of Mesa, AZ, at 11a.m. April 17 at the Ogden Cemetery, where his body will be interred next to that of his wife Helen, who passed away on April 10, 1994.