Bonnie Kathleen(Bach) Pratt

Bonnie Kathleen (BACH) Pratt, 71, of Aurora, passed away June 12, 2016.

She was born April 28, 1945 in East Saint Louis, Illinois, the daughter of Robert and Enid (LEINER) Bach. She was a graduate of East Saint Louis High School. She attended University of Illinois in Carbondale. On August 14, 1972 she married Floyd Thomas Pratt, of Saint Louis, Missouri.

Bonnie began her professional career working in her father; Robert Louis Bach's bank…the Bartelso Savings Bank in Bartelso, Santa Fe Township, Clinton County, Illinois, United States.

Learning such skills as documentation, organization, detail to accounting procedures and the necessity of keeping good records, Bonnie honed these skills, which would later be an asset in family history research.

Bonnie began her family history research career in 1975 after becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Her first calling as a
new member was to serve in the newly created genealogical department or known today as the Family History Center in the Springfield, Missouri Ward.
This two-year calling gave Bonnie a tremendous amount of experience helping others to research their families.

In fact, she felt family history research was fun and came easy. When others took vacations to exotic places, Bonnie and family went to courthouses, cemeteries and libraries covering coast to coast in pursuit of her family records.

She walked on the old Dillard Plantation in Spotsylvania County, Virginia and collected souvenirs of a handmade nail and a handmade brick from the old plantation known as Aspen Grove. She cracked open the courthouse records in Randolph County, Illinois locating marriages, deeds, wills and court records deciphering her family roots in pursuit of knowledge concerning her ancestors.

While she endeavored to find these records, a profound love for her ancestors developed over the years and a strong sense of kinship for those who paved the trails in her past became a motivating factor in her desire to know the reasons for their sacrifices.

Parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles all inquired of her stories and details of her family history research and she became a well-known scholar concerning their roots.

In reality, years of reading and studying increased her expertise and she made it look fun and easy to others. Due to her example she exhibited for the love of ancestors, she inspired others in her family to pursue their family history. All of this was accomplished while raising 6 children.

This dedication and talent did not go unnoticed by the Lord and over the course of several years, Bonnie was asked by her church to instruct several family history courses.

Bonnie is survived by her husband, Floyd Pratt; four daughters, Janis (ELLIOTT) (Rick) Henderson, Sandra (ELLIOTT) Green, Laura (PRATT) (Jason) Valentine, and Crystal (PRATT) (James) Hopson; two sons, Jeffrey Elliott and Christopher (Jessica) Pratt; seventeen grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; sister, Melanie (BACH) (Bernie) Carter; and brother, Michael (Barbara) Bach. She is preceded in death by her parents, Robert Louis and Enid (LEINER) Bach.

Bonnie Kathleen (BACH) Pratt's memorial services will be Saturday the 25th at 10am located at the Laredo Building of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 950 Laredo Street, Aurora, Colorado. All are welcomed.

To share a memory of Bonnie or leave a special condolence message for her family, please visit the guestbook below.