1991 Donny was in Montgomery County Jail. Bonnie Quinn, Jacki, and someone else brought a meeting to us. A third person might have been Reba. Jacqueline ended up being Donny’s sponsor. Donny was drunk and got into a fight with her ex-boyfriend and his mother. Donny was in jail for 77 days on two counts of assault. Donny’s son was killed and judge Mason released her to go to the funeral on personal recognizance, so long as she appeared the next day in his court. She did.
When she returned to court Judge Mason put her on probation.
Donnie was in a gas station debating whether or not to buy a beer. Jacqueline came behind her and said come on with me and let’s go to a meeting. She did.
After she was sober for four months, she went to Bonnie’s home on Kirk Street. Stayed there for three weeks and became the house manager. She was the only woman at the house, all residents were men. Donnie was the house manager for 4 months until she got engaged.
Donnie slept with Bonnie because she was the only girl. One night Bonnie woke up frightened that someone was in her bed and Donnie had to calm her down by convincing her she belonged there.
Blanch lived at the house and Bonnie often kicked her out. Blanch would call at off times asking for help.
Bonnie had a police scanner and kept it on 24/7. She slept listening to it. She would find out when the guys got in trouble, tried to commit suicide or overdosed.
Bonnie often went to Humble House for meetings and fundraisers. She always sat at the bar. Donnie asked why and she was told “I always sat at the bar, with my pistol in my bra.”
She always required the residents to attend conferences, like Spirit of Houston, the SETA Convention, NA convention If they didn’t go they had to leave the house. She would lock up the house.
For Bonnie to give up on you, you’d have to be pretty bad. After she kicked someone out, they would come back and beg and she’d let them in;. She had a love for the alcoholic like you wouldn’t believe.
Bonnie went to a Chinese buffet and the waiter told her she would get a senior discount. Big Ken, Donnie’s husband, teased her about being a senior citizen. Ken was 6’3’ and he was scared to death of Bonnie. She always gave a child’s gift, jacks, paddle balls, or the like to remind the residents they had an inner child and to let the child come out and play.
Bonnie smoked cigarettes a lot. She got put on oxygen 4 or 5 years before she died. She was smoking in bed on oxygen and caught her bedroom on fire. She went to the hospital with smoke inhalation. She would sneak out and smoke cigarettes, except for her last trip and she was in ICU and couldn’t sneak out to smoke.
Lori stayed with Bonnie.
Dusty stayed with Bonnie and she kicked him out. He should have some good stories.
She always gave the Williams brothers hell.
Billy and TV Tim dumped her ashes on Lake Conroe per her wishes. Her kids did not want to distribute the ashes in the lake. Then they put barbeque pit ashes into the urn and put it on the shelf. When Rhonda dumped the urn into Galveston Bay at Texas City it was with the phony ashes.
Once they went camping in the national forest in Huntsville. No one had a fishing license. They were there from Friday night to Sunday morning. Game wardens appeared on horseback and Bonnie handed Donny her fishing pole and said you can afford to go to jail and I can’t. The Game Warden snooped around the camp and found the Big Book and said you all have a good weekend.
Bonnie always saw potential in everyone and she hated to give up on anyone. The saying around AA was “if Bonnie gives up on you, your in God’s hands.”
She used the Skippo card game to tell if someone was brain injured. She loved to play Skippo and she cheated.
She worked for Tri-County at the Deer Unit on First Street in Conroe. Then she worked at the Women’s Shelter until she died.
Everybody who lived in Bonnie’s House was in recovery.
She always kept a dog at the house. She said that was how she could tell if a person was gentle or cruel.
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Bonnie's House of Hope 
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