Bonnie Lou Carter passed away on March 16, 2026, at Brookstone Gardens in Kearney, Nebraska. She was 86 years old, just 5 1/2 weeks shy of her 87th birthday.

Bonnie was born on April 23, 1939, to Robert G. and Norma I. (Walston) Woodside in Lexington, Nebraska. She was raised around the Lexington and Darr area. Her favorite memory of that time was the bottle-fed calf she raised and ultimately rode to school daily from their rural home. However, at the demise of the calf, she would never eat red meat again.

She married Neal W. Carter on May 4, 1957, in Lexington, Nebraska. The couple divorced after 25 years together and remarried on December 4, 1999, in Ragan, Nebraska, spending the next almost 13 years together until his death in October of 2012. They spent their married life in small towns in and around Nebraska, except for the time spent in California during Neal's military time, and some time they lived in Denver, Colorado, when he returned from the military. During their marriage, four children were added to the union: Larry Gene, Crystal Diane, Vonda Marie, and Katherine Lynn.

Bonnie spent many years working at Becton-Dickinson in Holdrege, Nebraska, and was oftentimes found working part-time at various restaurants, in addition to her full-time work. Her favorites were the Hotel Dale in Holdrege, Nebraska, where the bosses there and many of the regular patrons became her friends, and the Cornland Hotel in Lexington, Nebraska, where she worked during her high school years. She retired after many years with BD when her health forced her to retire. Her hobbies included woodworking, when she was able, and reading.

Bonnie was a stubborn gal- likely the stubbornest of the entire Woodside clan. In her end-of-life days, as she was getting worse, the nurses worked diligently to find a solution to her constant agitation, since she was beginning to refuse water, food, and all medication. They called the family to discuss getting a cream rubbed on her neck and wrists to calm the agitation, and the family reported that it was okay, but not to tell her it was a medication-only lotion. So they told her that they had some lotion and would give her a massage that made her perfectly content. Another time, a nurse went in to check on her and tried to initiate a conversation, but Bonnie incoherently mumbled something. The nurse asked something else when she heard, "Get out!" ever so plainly.

Bonnie was preceded in death by her husband, Neal W. Carter; parents, Robert and Norma Woodside; brother and sister-in-law, Darrel E. & Marcella (Rudder) Woodside; in-laws, Robert and Alta Carter; great-granddaughter, Sara Amandae Johnsen; brothers and sisters-in-law, Clark and Beth Carter, Paul and Ruth Carter; sister and brother-in-law, Roberta and Don Doudney; great nephew, Lathan Daniel Smith; as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Survivors include their four children, Larry Carter of Ragan, Nebraska, Crystal (Merle) Johnsen of Bertrand, Nebraska, Vonda (Bill) Roades of Windsor, Missouri, and Katherine McFarlane of Georgia; her sister and brother-in-law, Denise and Martin "Marty" Smith of Lexington; as well as grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

Per Bonnie's very explicit instructions, she was to be cremated with no services, no other publication, and notifications were to be "only after her burial". She was inurned at the Fort McPherson National Cemetery at Maxwell, Nebraska.