Bonnie Bishop Mink

Bonnie Bess Bishop Mink, 91, died Friday, September 5, 2014 at Atwood Personal Care Home in Kosciusko. Visitation is Sunday, September 7, 2014 from 1-3 p.m. at Jordan Funeral Home in Kosciusko. Funeral services are 3 p.m. Sunday in the Jordan Funeral Home Chapel with burial to follow in the Parkway Cemetery. Jordan Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Dr. Don Patterson will officiate. Bonnie Mink was born in Houston, Mississippi, and growing up she walked a mile to school every day with her beloved sister Libba. She survived a bout of diphtheria in the third grade and went on to become an excellent student. As a teenager she often played tennis on a grass court built by her grandfather, a blacksmith who loved to make rings for his granddaughters out of horseshoe nails. While studying at Wood Junior College, Bonnie met Paul Mink, and the two of them became inseparable. They also became Ping-Pong champions of the entire school. After Wood she attended Scarritt College in Nashville, Tennessee, where she developed an abiding love for literature and movies. She later accompanied Paul to Emory Medical School, where she worked as a secretary to support her family. When Paul developed a spot on his lung, they moved to Simpson County, Mississippi, so Paul could recuperate at the Mississippi Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Bonnie again supported them while staying with her bedridden husband every day. When Paul recovered they moved to Kosciusko, where he opened a medical practice in the back of Hayes's Drugstore. Bonnie and Paul joined the First Methodist church and stayed active as long as they were able. Their robust social life included playing bridge and tennis with their close friends John and Rose Burge. Bonnie was an avid fan of Gone With the Wind, which she saw in 1939 for a nickel. The film was rereleased periodically over the years, and she would travel to Jackson to see Scarlett O'Hara's travails again and again. Throughout their life together Bonnie and Paul focused on their garden and their orchard of pears, apples, and peaches. Their forty-acre pecan orchard was their favorite of all, and they tended it carefully for twenty-five years. During her final years Bonnie enjoyed nothing more than spending time with her grandchildren, and even amidst tragedy her great wit was intact. Bonnie is survived by Paul Jr. (Rhonda), Phillip (Ann), and Amy (Johnny); four granddaughters and one grandson. She was predeceased by her parents, her sister Libba, and her beloved husband Paul. Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church.