Bonnie Lee (Sheakley) Blair, 88, of Petrolia, passed away peacefully Friday morning, January 24, 2025 while in the company of her husband at Parker Personal Care.
Born in Petrolia on November 22, 1936 to the late Herbert and Cleora Henry Sheakley. Bonnie was a 1954 graduate of Fairview Twp. Karns City High School. She attended Slippery Rock College for a time, and eventually worked at Peoples United Telephone Company in Butler. That’s where Bonnie met her husband, Eugene “Gene” Blair. Bonnie and Gene were married on Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 25, 1959. Together they welcomed three kids, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Bonnie was an active member of the Petrolia Fire Department Auxiliary, a Red Cross Volunteer, served a pivotal term as Karns City School Board Director, and worked for three decades at Butler County’s Office of Children and Youth and MHMR. She spent several years as a “camp mom” first at Farma Family Campground in Greenville, and later at Wolf’s Camping Resort in Knox. Bonnie passed as she lived – a passionate fighter, cancer survivor, and woman of faith. Bonnie and her husband were long time active members of the Petrolia Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Bonnie was the beloved mother of Melissa Wilson and her husband, Mark, of Chicora, Regina Popichak and her husband, Fr. Robert Popichak, of Carnegie, and David Blair and his wife, Jen, of Bruin, the beloved grandmother of Samantha Shields and her husband, James, Adam Wilson and his wife, Kristi, Alexander Popichak and his fiancé, Sydney, and Matthew Popichak, Cameron Blair and his wife, Maggie, Zach, Kolby, and Tyler Blair, and great-grandmother to Isabella Shields and Hudson Wilson. Also surviving are a number of nieces, nephews, and cousins.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brother, Lloyd Sheakley.
Friends will be received at the Hile Funeral Home of Chicora, 339 Chicora Fenelton Rd., Chicora, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday. A funeral service will follow from the funeral home at 2 p.m. with Bonnie’s son-in-law, Father Bob Popichak, officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to the Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 237, Petrolia, PA 16050. Condolences may be sent by visiting www.hilefh.com.