Bonita Faye (Wenger) Carpenter-Ikeda
Bonita Faye (Wenger)
Carpenter-Ikeda
Cedar Rapids
Bonita Faye (Wenger) Carpenter-Ikeda was born on March 16, 1951, and passed away April 16, 2023, at the age of 72 from cancer. A visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on April 27, 2023, at The Legacy Center at Murdoch-Linwood in Cedar Rapids. A funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. on April 28, 2023, at Hillside Wesleyan Church in Cedar Rapids. Entombment will follow at the Linwood Cemetery Mausoleum in Cedar Rapids. Murdoch-Linwood Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Cedar Rapids is assisting the family.
Bonita “Bonnie” Wenger was born in Grinnell on March 16, 1951. She was raised by her parents Owen Wenger and Beulah (Harness) Wenger, in Brooklyn, Iowa. She graduated BGM High School in 1969 and went to St. Luke’s School of Nursing in Cedar Rapids. She later went to Coe College and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Bonnie and several of her classmates entered the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps in 1971. After graduating from St. Luke’s, she was stationed in Portsmouth, Va., and Agana, Guam. She was active duty for seven years and made the rank of Lieutenant.
Bonnie married Lyle Carpenter in 1973. She had two children, Michael and Megan. After leaving the Navy they settled in Cedar Rapids. Bonnie was employed at St. Luke’s Hospital for 34 years. She began as a nurse in the maternity department and was later the manager of the Birth Care Center. She was a dedicated nurse who was named one of the 100 Great Iowa Nurses in 2006. She loved being a nurse and taking care of mothers, babies, and the other nurses around her.
In 2009, after 37 years of marriage, Bonnie lost her first husband Lyle to Alzheimer’s. She joined a grief support group and met Akio Ikeda, who was grieving the loss of his wife to cancer. Through grief and loss they found love, and eventually married. She is survived by Akio, her husband of 12 years, who resides at The Woodlands in the Meth-Wick Community.
Bonnie was a member of Hillside Wesleyan Church. She enjoyed going to bible studies and spending time with friends. Her hobbies were traveling, sewing, quilting, and gardening. Her biggest joy was spending time with her grandchildren and watching them participate in their various activities. She was an avid Hawkeyes fan.
Bonnie was preceded in death by her parents, Owen and Beulah (Harness) Wenger; and her first husband, Lyle Harding Carpenter. She is survived by her second husband, Akio Ikeda; her sister, Rhonda (Calvin) Whitehead; her son, Michael (Melissa) Carpenter; her daughter, Megan (John) Haigh; her stepchildren, John (Sandy) Ikeda, Andrea Ikeda, Stephanie (Robert) Willits and Deborah Stevens and their children; as well as her grandchildren, Vivienne and Robert Carpenter, Brynn, Tristan and Sullivan Haigh, and Kyra, Haley and Devin Ikeda.
Memorials may be directed to Hillside Wesleyan Church in honor of Bonnie.
Please share a memory of Bonnie at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.