Bonnie Jean Simoneaux

Bonnie Jean Rushing Simoneaux, 83, of Watkinsville, Georgia, passed away on February 27, 2025 surrounded by four generations of her family. Bonnie was born in Magnolia, Mississippi, on March 10, 1941, to Ellis Percy and Pauline Davis Rushing of Summit, Mississippi. Bonnie grew up in New Orleans and spent much time with her cherished grandmother, Bonnie Rushing Ball, and her siblings, Raymond, Jane, and Mike Rushing. While attending Central Baptist Church in elementary school, Bonnie met the future love of her life, Michel “Mike” Saville Simoneaux.

Bonnie moved more than twenty times in her life, but her faith in God and sacrificial love for her family remained steadfast throughout her eighty-three years. She dedicated her life to loving her husband and family, pursuing knowledge and teaching others, offering academic and spiritual wisdom to all. Bonnie graduated from Warren Easton High School in New Orleans in 1959 and soon after married her childhood friend and high school sweetheart, Mike, on July 5, 1959, in a French Quarter ceremony. The couple honeymooned in Miami Beach, Florida, a trip which Mike won in an essay-writing contest sponsored by the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper for the movie “The Perfect Furlough”. Providential provision continued to mark the Simoneaux couple’s lives. They started their family while Mike was in the Air Force and had their oldest, Stephen “Steve” Farrow Simoneaux, in 1962 and daughter, Susan Simoneaux Snyder, in 1964. After living in Mississippi for the Air Force and college, then seminary in Fort Worth and New Orleans, Bonnie and Mike were called to the mission field in Japan. Their family of four boarded the USS President Cleveland and traveled across the Pacific Ocean to work in Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe, Japan. Learning Japanese, Bonnie taught English and cooking classes while building lifelong relationships at the Friendship House, also raising her family and supporting Mike in his ministry. These eleven years in Japan would shape the Simoneaux family culture for generations to come.

After returning to the United States in 1980, the Simoneauxs spent a wonderful year in New Orleans near Bonnie’s parents before moving to Pensacola, Florida where Bonnie taught middle school social studies and Mike served at First Baptist Pensacola. Moving next to West Palm Beach, Florida, Bonnie continued the adventure of middle school teaching while MIke served at Palm Beach Atlantic College. Once her grandchildren started to arrive, Bonnie insisted on a move to Georgia, where Mike served at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland, Georgia. There they hosted an annual “Cousins Camp” for their grandchildren. They were faithful members of First Baptist Helen, Georgia where Bonnie taught Sunday School for years. They later moved to Brewton-Parker College in Mt. Vernon, Georgia before retiring in Watkinsville, Georgia after nearly sixty years of service in ministry and education. Bonnie’s home generously hosted family and friends and was always spotless and decorated vibrantly with Japanese art. Bonnie’s pursuit of Biblical knowledge and zeal for life only deepend in her later years, and the Simoneauxs enjoyed close friendship with their small group and Sunday School class at First Baptist Church in Watkinsville, Georgia. Celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in 2024, Mike is honored to have spent every day of his life since 1959 with Bonnie by his side.

Bonnie is survived by her devoted husband Mike, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who miss her fiercely: Steve, his wife Irene, and their four children, Matthew (Monica and their daughter Liliana), John (Jiji and their son James), Anne Marie, and her namesake, Bonnie; Susan, her husband James, and their three children, Abigail, Rachel, and Samuel. Bonnie leaves a legacy of joyful contentment in the Lord and extravagant, unceasing love for her family. Bonnie’s sister Jane Rushing Lawrence of Summit, Mississippi and brother Mike Rushing of St. Petersburg, Russia are her surviving siblings. 

Visitation will be held Sunday, March 9th at 2 PM and the Memorial service will be held at 3 PM at Lord & Stephens in Watkinsville, Georgia. Later this year, a graveside service will be held in Summit, Mississippi at Bonnie’s family plot.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Mike & Bonnie Simoneaux Music Education Scholarship at Brewton-Parker College. The link to give can be found here: https://bpc.edu/about-bpc/join-us/give-to-bpc/. Please note your gift to the “Mike & Bonnie Simoneaux Music Education Scholarship” in the gift designation.

Lord & Stephens Funeral Homes, West, Watkinsville, GA is in charge of arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com