Bonnie Jean Kamrath

Bon­nie Jean Kam­rath, 71, of Mayville, passed away peace­fully on Wednes­day, Nov. 22, 2023, with her fam­ily by her side, at St. Agnes Hos­pi­tal in Fond du Lac.
Bon­nie, born July 19, 1952, was the first-born daugh­ter of Palmer and Jane (Panzer) Schultz. She grew up with her four younger sib­lings on a dairy farm out­side of Hus­tis­ford. It in­stilled in her a strong work ethic, un­wa­ver­ing sense of em­pa­thy and com­pas­sion for all peo­ple and an­i­mals, and a strong foun­da­tion in faith, fam­ily, and friends. She was af­fec­tion­ately known as Bon­nie Jean “the beauty queen” or “Sissy” by her par­ents, sib­lings, and friends.
She was united in mar­riage to her beloved hus­band, Lloyd Glenn Kam­rath on Au­gust 18, 1973, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Neosho. To­gether, they would work their own dairy farm, build a fam­ily, es­tab­lish strong roots in the Mayville com­mu­nity, and cel­e­brate nearly 50 years of mar­riage.
Bon­nie was an in­cred­i­bly de­voted wife, mother, grand­mother, and the sweet­est, most lov­ing, and car­ing per­son to cross your path. Bon­nie worked tire­lessly dur­ing her life on this earth to sup­port her hus­band on their fam­ily farm, while cre­at­ing a home filled with struc­ture, re­spon­si­bil­ity, love, laugh­ter, hugs, and kisses for her chil­dren, and grand­chil­dren.
Later in life, Bon­nie would pos­i­tively im­pact count­less lives as an early child­hood teacher at the Punkin Patch Day­care and as a teacher’s aide for the Mayville School Dis­trict. If the weather was nice, you would most likely find Bon­nie on the front porch with her hus­band, Lloyd, lis­ten­ing to her fa­vorite oldies on the radio or Bob Uecker call­ing a Brew­ers game. She en­joyed watch­ing the neigh­bor­hood chil­dren bike up and down Clark Street or her beloved grand­kids play­ing in the front yard.
She will al­ways be re­mem­bered for her love of car­di­nals, polka music, danc­ing, the color pur­ple, singing a Christ­mas tune or hum­ming an oldie but goody, play­ing her ac­cor­dion for her brother and sis­ters, and plan­ning sur­prise par­ties for her par­ents. She showed her love for bak­ing, cook­ing, or mak­ing some fam­ily fa­vorites like choco­late chip bars, cu­cum­ber salad, peanut clus­ters, pizza burg­ers, hot dish, meat­loaf, and mashed pota­toes, a Fri­day night fish fry, a strong whiskey sour old fash­ioned with olives or a brandy and coke. Ac­cord­ing to her sib­lings, she was fa­mously quoted as say­ing “Who­ever drinks the fastest, drinks the mostest.” She wore her emo­tions on her sleeves most days, re­li­giously fol­lowed her Wis­con­sin sports teams and her home­town Mayville Car­di­nals. She loved her church and the Lord, was in­volved in the church choir for many years, at­tended hun­dreds of her kids and grand­kids sport­ing events, mu­si­cals, plays, birth­day par­ties, and other events. She loved going out for break­fast with Lloyd to the Back Street Cafe or Diner 67 on week­ends for some crispy bacon, or a good meal and cock­tail at Blanck’s Sup­per Club or the Iron Ridge Inn. She was the life of the party, and a so­cial but­ter­fly to those who would run into our par­ents at the Pub, Roxy’s or the Sher­wood Cafe.
Bon­nie cher­ished her close cir­cle of friends, loved a good game of sheepshead or hearts, and was al­ways there to lis­ten, laugh, give a hug, or pro­vide her kids, fam­ily, friends, or a com­plete stranger with a kind word or act of com­pas­sion and en­cour­age­ment. We will never for­get her big heart, kind spirit, and will­ing­ness to sac­ri­fice any­thing needed to make our lives bet­ter. She al­ways saw the best in peo­ple, dished out com­pli­ments like they were candy to any­one that crossed her path, and will be sorely missed by her fam­ily and friends.
Bon­nie is sur­vived by her four chil­dren, Joel (Chris) Kam­rath of Wa­ter­town, Jamey Kam­rath of Mayville, Benji (Melinda) Kam­rath of Wa­ter­town, and Nicole (Adam) Oestre­ich of Mayville; 10 grand­chil­dren, Alexus, Han­nah, Colin, Brae­dyn, Pax­ton, Reece, Olivia, Brevon, Nahla, Sul­ley; her sis­ters, Karen (Alvin) Hilde­brandt, Sharon (Steve) Pat­ter­son, Holly (Mike) Peltier; and brother, Gerry (Agnes) Schultz; as well as other rel­a­tives and friends.
She was pre­ceded in death by her par­ents, Palmer and Jane Schultz and her beloved hus­band, Lloyd Kam­rath.
The vis­i­ta­tion was held at Koepsell Fu­neral Home in Mayville on Wednes­day, Nov. 29, from 4 until 7 p.m. Fu­neral ser­vices for Bon­nie will be held at St John’s Ev. Lutheran Church in Mayville on Thurs­day, Nov. 30, at 11 a.m. with Rev. Dr. Mark G. Cut­ler of­fi­ci­at­ing. There will be a brief sec­ond vis­i­ta­tion for Bon­nie at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of ser­vice at 11 a.m. In­ter­ment will fol­low the ser­vice at St. John’s Ceme­tery in Mayville.
In lieu of flow­ers, all do­na­tions will be given to St. John’s Lutheran Church or the Mayville Booster Club.
Koepsell Fu­neral Home in Mayville is car­ing for the fam­ily. www.​Koepsellfh.​com