Bonnie Rapkin

Our dearest Bonnie Anne Rapkin left us suddenly May 27th 2016. She was born January 15, 1957 to Bernard and Lenore Rapkin in West Los Angeles. Bonnie attended Venice High school and Santa Monica Community College. She studied commercial art and window dressing while working at a variety of jobs . After attaining a teaching credential, she worked with children from Happyland preschool in Venice Ca to becoming a substitute teacher at Santa Barbara School District for several years until health problems caused her to take sick leave. She always hoped to get back to the children she worked with. She took tremendous joy whenever she saw one of her former students. Bonnie's passion was in creating quirky assemblage art that has been shown in several small venues over the years in Santa Barbara from Paradise Found, Art from Scrap, to the Annual Buddha Show. She created jewelry and, on any given day, friends could find her working on assemblages that often displayed her taste in jewelry. She was a small in stature with an impish grin that gave her the appearance of a sprite with some mischief at hand. She loved walking at Hendry's Beach with her mate, practicing yoga, and, as she became more disabled, she was a regular at the Cottage Rehabilitation therapy pool. People that met her always came away noticing how sweet she was. Though she suffered tremendous pain the past ten years she worked fastidiously on her rehabilitation and was an inspiration to us all. Bonnie was especially close to her mother who passed away from Alzheimer's disease a few years ago. Bonnie has a great number of friends from Los Angeles who will miss her. She's survived by her Father, Bernard Rapkin, her sister Debbie Traviso and husband Rick Traviso, and her devoted and loving companion, George Couper. Services will be held Sunday from 10:00 am to Noon at McDermott Crockett Mortuary 2020 Chapala Street. A Memorial potluck will be held to honor Bonnie at the Alano Club of Santa Barbara Saturday, June 11th from 1:30 to 4:00 . Donations can be made to Casa Serena 1515 Bath St (www.casaserena.org) or The Alano Club 235 East Cota St. (www.alanoclubsantabarbara.org) . Arrangements by McDermott-Crockett Mortuary (805) 569-2424.