OBITUARY

 Bonnie Marie Smothers Arbogast

September 30, 1924 — August 20, 2022

Bonnie Marie Smothers was born Sept. 30, 1924 at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon. She was the daughter of Ulysses Chester and Mildred Estel Kemp Smothers. Bonnie’s father was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and at the time of her birth was pastor of the Woodlawn Methodist Church in Portland. Ulysses also pastored other churches in Oregon and Washington.

Bonnie graduated from Wenatchee High School in 1941 and then attended Cascade College in Portland. It was at Cascade that she met her future husband, Levi Arbogast. They were married at the Capay Rancho Friends Church in Capay, California. Their first child, Brian Lance, was born while they lived in Portland.

After Levi’s graduation from Cascade in 1945, they moved to California where Levi was called to pastor the Gardenland Friends Church near Sacramento. It was there that their other three  children were born-Warren Keith, Cynthia Ann and Ronda Lee. Levi and Bonnie had an especially active work with children and young people conducting a boys club and a girls club for several years. Bonnie was active in the church Sunday school as superintendent and teacher. It was there that Bonnie managed her first church library using books from their personal library.

In 1957 Levi and Bonnie moved to Willows, California, where they were active in the Church of the Nazarene. Bonnie taught Sunday school and often sang for the worship service. She was asked to work for the City of Willows Public Library and was later appointed Library Administrator, a position she held for 16 years. She took additional library courses at Chico State College and St. Mary’s University in San Francisco. During her tenure a new library was built and she oversaw the merging of two large library collections into one new library. After that move she said she would never help move another library. Since that time she has assisted in the move of three other libraries.

After moving to Newberg in 1979 she was active in the Christian Women’s Club, Yamhill County Genealogical Society, Salem Chapter of the Pacific NW Assn. of Church Librarians, George Fox Auxiliary and Newberg Friends Church where she was church librarian for 21 years. In retirement Bonnie spent countless hours leading the Newberg Friends of the Library group and was responsible for raising many thousands of dollars for the library. Bonnie worked her magic upgrading the quality of the Newberg Friends Church library and Friendsview Retirement Community’s library. She also enjoyed family genealogy and did extensive research on the Arbogast and Smothers families before the current online resources were available.

Bonnie was a quiet, unassuming person who did not demand attention but was highly regarded by all who knew her. She is survived by her son, Keith Arbogast, and his wife, Jan, from Bloomington, Indiana; her daughter Cynthia (Cindy) McCracken, and her husband, Dan, from Newberg; her daughter, Ronda, and her husband, Frank, Arbogast-Measel from Newberg; and 9 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Levi; her oldest son, Brian, and two grandchildren.

If you would like to make a memorial gift in Bonnie’s memory, we would suggest Newberg Public Library’s Friends of the Library or Friendsview Retirement Community’s residents assistance fund.