Feb. 5, 1951-Jan. 26, 2017
Bonnie Jay Hunter, of Natalia, the former owner of Power Cycles with her late husband, Lee Kent, died on Jan. 26, 2017, following a three-year battle with cancer. Her husband had died in 2005, leaving her a widow.
An artistic spirit, Bonnie graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Commercial Art and Design. She worked in the greeting card industry in Corpus Christi and later New Braunfels, Texas, after graduation, designing, drawing and coloring cards before eventually transitioning to a career as a test car driver with EGG Automotive Research and ultimately Texas Test Fleet in Devine. She always maintained her interest in art, painting distinctive designs on the motorcycles she and her husband created for Power Cycles.
Bonnie was a great lover of nature, enjoying the outdoors, horses and especially her beloved pit bull dogs. Her final companion was Honey, a female bulldog who was like a family member to her. Bonnie often said that she felt the red-tailed hawk was her personal “spirit animal.” Although she grew up in a military family and lived in multiple states and two South American countries, Bonnie became attached to South Texas and seldom traveled far from Natalia in the last three decades of her life.
Bonnie suffered with cancer, with which she was diagnosed in October 2013, but maintained a valiant struggle through three years of treatment. She insisted on having every possible treatment, from chemotherapy to radiation and even participated in a clinical trial at the San Antonio START Center in 2016.
The end of her struggles came in hospice at Medina Valley Rehabilitation and Health Center in Castroville, Texas.
Bonnie is survived by her brother, Chris Hunter, of Pacifica, California, his wife, Meg and their two daughters Mettlin and Brae. She was preceded in death by her parents, Colonel William L. Hunter and Janet D. Hunter, who are both buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, in San Antonio. Bonnie will be buried with her husband, Lee Kent, a veteran who isalso interred at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Arrangements were handled by Hurley Funeral Homes in Devine.
Donations to the American Cancer Society in Bonnie’s name are appreciated.