Bonnie C. Wieden

Bonnie C. Wieden, 65, formerly of La Grande, died Feb. 11 in her sleep from a heart attack.

Services begin at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Agnes Flanagan Chapel at Lewis and Clark College.

Bonnie was born Dec. 9, 1943, in Casper, Wyo. Her parents, Ellis and LaWanda Scott, moved the family to La Grande.

In high school, Bonnie was senior class president, president of the Honor Society and the May queen.

She enjoyed hunting in the backcountry with her father. She participated in springboard diving and earned first place in the Far West Regionals in San Francisco in 1960.

She attended Eastern Oregon University for two years and then went to the University of Oregon where she worked days in the speech department and took classes at night.

In March 1966, she accepted an invitation to float on an inner tube down the McKenzie River with Dan Wieden and they married before the year was out.

The couple had three daughters, Tami, Laura and Cassie and one son, Bryan. The family moved from Portland to Dundee. Bonnie started a 4-H horse club that attracted 26 members. She worked at A-Dec and received a U.S. Senate Productivity Award in 1985.

Soon after in October, Bonnie suffered an aneurysm after giving the laity sermon at the Dundee Methodist Church. It was the first of several, and other complications followed.

Bonnie continued her outreach, taking in an exchange student from France and several from Japan.

In 1996, the family purchased acreage at Blue Lake in the Cascades and started Caldera - a summer camp focusing on the arts, the environment and a strong sense of community. Hundreds of struggling young families benefit from the camp year-round.

Those who knew her say she was an accomplished woman who had a crazy humor and was skilled in checkers. They say she had a great smile and a bib love for life.

Bonnie is survived by her husband of 42 years, Dan Wieden; her children, Tamira, Laura, Katherine and Bryan; four grandchildren; and sisters, Patricia and Susan.