Bonnie Jill (Rusterholz) Robbins passed away on January 5, 2025, at the age of 82. Bonnie was born to Jack Rusterholz and Norma (Greiner) Dunker in Connersville, Indiana, where Bonnie was lovingly raised by her maternal grandparents, Charlie and Julia Greiner. Bonnie met her husband, Ron, when they were freshmen at Connersville High School. Their first date was their senior prom, and they married on September 1, 1962. Bonnie earned her PhT (“putting hubby through”) at Indiana University by working as a secretary while Ron completed his studies there. Their daughter Anne was born in 1963, and daughter Michelle in 1965.
In 1968, Bonnie, Ron and the girls moved to Easton, Pennsylvania – the ends of the earth, according to their families – where Ron had accepted a position at Lafayette College. Intending to stay two years, Bonnie and Ron stayed forty-eight. Bonnie earned an associate’s degree while working in the Easton public school system, cooking, baking, sewing and doing a million other things, taking the girls with her to class if no child care was available.
Bonnie later joined Ron as a Lafayette employee. She quickly became secretary to the Director of Admissions and then secretary to the Provost. The job at Lafayette she loved most, however, was secretary to the Art & Music Department, where she grand-mothered generations of Lafayette students until her retirement in 2007. Although Bonnie wasn’t blessed with musical talent, she grew to appreciate live performances, especially those of “her” students.
After Bonnie and Ron met the coach through a religious retreat, they both became involved with the Lafayette track and cross-country teams. Although very petite and usually reserved, Bonnie could stand her ground when needed. Bonnie once booted a legendary Villanova track coach out of a scorer’s room she’d been assigned to patrol and more than once “advised” fans of opposing teams that they were out of line. Bonnie also was a devoted fan of Indiana University basketball and the Boston Red Sox, and she had a dizzying variety of caps to prove it.
Bonnie was always the one who helped out in small and not-so-small ways. She sewed costumes for school plays; held gear, handed out water, and ran the stopwatch for Ron and his friends during local road races; helped prepare meals for the Lafayette Newman Association monthly get-togethers; and faithfully sent biweekly care packages and pocket money to Anne & Michelle all through their college years. She was a good neighbor and loyal friend and especially enjoyed her cardiac rehab group in Easton.
Bonnie loved the beach in all weather, did beautiful needlework and had an extensive collection of teddy bears. But once she became a grandmother, nothing topped visiting her grandchildren, particularly when combined with some time at the shore.
Bonnie and Ron moved to Easthampton, MA in 2016 to be near Anne and her spouse Gretchen. Though we’ve tried, what made Bonnie so special is hard to put into words. She is and always will be deeply missed by Ron, Anne and Michelle, her son-in-law Doug Jacobsen, half-sister Susan Kehl (Steve), grandchildren Victoria Sinn (Dylan) and Alex Jacobsen (Mica) and great-granddaughters Millie and Hazel. She was predeceased by her daughter-in-law, Gretchen Dock. Services will be in Indiana in the spring.
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