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Bonnie Jeane Seal Petty (Mom) was born in Cushing, OK, on July 21st, 1921, to Claude Elmer Sr. and Virginia Francis West Seal. She is the middle of three children. Her brothers are Claude Elmer Seal Jr. and William Glen Seal (deceased).

As a child Mom was a tomboy. She liked to play baseball with the boys and had her own baseball bat. Times were tough back then and the family didn't have much money, so a baseball bat was somewhat of a luxury. In her early teenage years she would babysit and the money she earned would go to the family.

About age 16, (1937) Mom fell ill with tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium in Talihina, OK, for about a year. This illness caused her to miss her senior year of high school. While in the hospital, she met Dad (Jim F. Petty) when he was there visiting a relative who was also ill. After being cured, she returned to Cushing to finish her high school education and graduated from Cushing High School in 1941.

Shortly after high school, she moved to Taft, CA, to live with relatives. She spent some time working and going to school. By this time Dad had joined the US Navy and was stationed aboard the USS Nevada at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, Mom moved to San Diego, CA, to be with Jim's family and wait on word of his fate. He survived.

Upon Jim's return from Pearl Harbor, they began a trip with Jim's parents back to Oklahoma to get married. They made it only as far as Yuma, AZ, where on May 10, 1942, Jim and Bonnie were married.

On October 6, 1943, the first of four children was born. The children are as follows:


Linda Sue Petty- October 6, 1943
Jim David Petty- May 3, 1948
Frank Thomas Petty- January 13, 1959
John Michael Petty- June 28, 1965


During her life married to a Navy man, she and Jim along with their first two children (Linda and Dave) moved frequently until Dad retired from active duty in 1958 and the family settled in Northwest Arkansas where they lived for 9 years. In 1967, the family with the two youngest kids moved to El Paso, TX, where Dad was a teacher at Ft. Bliss Army Post. Dave and Linda were already grown and out of the home. Mom and Dad and the two younger kids (Tom and Mike) have been in El Paso ever since.

Mom loved sewing, crocheting, playing in the St. Luke's United Methodist Church Bell Choir and was an award winning Avon saleslady for many years. She loved collecting bells and adored the babies in her family. She could always be found in her rocking chair with any baby that might be brought by for a visit. When friends or family would come to visit, her first priority was to make sure everyone had been fed and nobody was hungry. Above all, she loved her family, especially her husband and her children. She was Mom, Mimi and Grandma as well as a loving homemaker for her family all her life.

Bonnie Jeane Seal Petty is survived by her husband, Jim F. Petty of the home, one brother, Claude E. Seal, Jr. & wife, Betty, of Stillwater, OK, one daughter, Linda Petty Bradley and husband, Randy, of Farmington, AR, and three sons, Jim D. Petty of Fayetteville, AR, Tom Petty of El Paso, TX, and Mike Petty and wife, Lisa, also of El Paso, TX. She is also survived by six grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

We celebrated her life during a memorial service on February 16, 2008. Burial was February 25, 2008, in Ft. Bliss National Cemetery, El Paso, TX.

Memorial donations can be made to St. Luke United Methodist Church, 9915 Montwood Dr., El Paso, TX. 79925. Attention: Bell Choir Fund.