Bonnie (Sorenson) Savage Rooker

November 24, 1941 – June 30, 2026

Bonnie (Sorenson) Savage Rooker passed away gently on June 30, 2026, in Madison, Wis., surrounded by all of her loved ones. She was born on November 24, 1941, in Fond du Lac, Wis. She was the middle child of Haaken Sigurd and Edna Mae (Ellickson) Sorenson, both of whom descended from Norwegian immigrants. She lived on the East Side of Madison, on Sherman Avenue and later Oakridge Avenue, attended Marquette and Lapham schools, and graduated in 1959 from East High School, where she had many, many friends and was well-known for her sweet smile. Every day after school she ran across East Washington Avenue to a hamburger shop called the Ice Cream Shop and saved a table for her girlfriends. She sang in the school choir as a soprano, the start of a lifelong love of music, and participated in the East Side Youth Mayor Council planning events. As a child, she attended and was confirmed at Bethel Lutheran Church.

She studied at Wisconsin State College at Eau Claire, where she was a cheerleader, but left in 1962, after attending "stewardess" training school in the Twin Cities and becoming a flight attendant for Frontier Airlines. For two years, she flew all over the Rocky Mountain region on DC-3s and made lifelong friends with other adventurous young women who were pioneers in early commercial flights. She endured being grounded a couple of times for being over the prescribed weight limit, by just two pounds. Based in Billings, Mont., she met the love of her life and future husband, Alfred Allen Savage, but was required to quit the airline when they married on June 27, 1964, at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison.

Her adventurous ways would continue as Al's career moved them across the country and allowed them to travel the world. They first made their home in Syosset, N.Y., where their son, Todd Allen was born. She started on a life of frequent relocations for Al's position at Continental Oil Co. As a young wife and mother, she lived in London, England for two years and had a daughter, Laura Kay. After her mother called to share the news with the women's section of the State Journal in Madison, the paper reported the news of Bonnie and her family moving there: "They Will Live in England." From there they moved to Ponca City, Okla.; Norman, Okla., where son, Jeffrey Wade was born; then Tulsa, Okla.; next Wilton, Conn.; and finally Houston, Texas, where she lived for nearly 46 years.

Bonnie became an integral member of her neighborhood, her children's schools, and the church and found ways to impact those around her. She served Yeager Elementary on the PTO and as a playground monitor, and by serving as memorial fund chair of the local Cancer Society. In the newly developed neighborhood of Huntwick, she had a vibrant community of close friends and acted as editor of the "Huntwick Herald," the neighborhood's newsletter. She attended and hosted events in her home as a member of Houston's Chapter ES of the international sisterhood of P.E.O, marking recently her 60th anniversary as a member of the nonprofit network supporting women. She and her family were active members of Northwoods Presbyterian Church; she encouraged her family to attend the church as a gift to her on Mother's Day after a new pastor, Stewart McColl, their pastor in Connecticut, was called to the church in Houston. As early members of the church, they helped lead efforts to build a new sanctuary to serve the growing community. She later served as a lay pastor comforting church families in need, acted as a role model for her children in welcoming and caring for Vietnamese refugee families supported by the church, and always welcomed her children's friends into her home for meals and playtime and encouraged their creativity. The home that Bonnie created would become a hub of friendship and community. She was popular with friends and neighbor children for her productive cookie-making (both the variety and number) during the Christmas holidays and worked hard to make the holidays so special to her family.

Al often travelled for business and was gone for weeks at a time in an era where international calls were short and rare. She accompanied him notably on two trips: a visit to China in 1980 when business investment in China was just beginning. Locals had rarely seen Western women in person and thought Bonnie was a movie star. On another trip, she traveled to Egypt where she and other spouses were invited to tea with Jehan Sadat, the first lady to the country's ground-breaking president, Anwar Sadat. She loved to tell people a smalltown girl from Madison "had tea with Mrs. Sadat." In addition to many other travels, she and Al took their family to England and Norway, and she had her own "Sound of Music" moment when she spontaneously burst into song, at the surprise of her family, on the hilly fields of an English estate.

Music was always a passion for Bonnie. She was a member of the church choir at Northwoods for more than a decade and said she felt guilty for not sitting with her family while she sang, but her family was always proud of seeing her in the choir. She was a leader in the Side-by-Siders, a singing group that visited senior homes and community events and was involved in a variety of musical programs and celebrations at the church, including a production of Godspell and often crafting clever, funny, loving "odes" to retiring or celebrated staff and church members. She always downplayed her own skill as a writer, but she expressed herself in her own writing and submitted it for publication; she was a committed and voluminous correspondent with her friends and her children to whom she typed weekly letters for many years; she loved sending cards and getting them. She enjoyed curling up and reading a hardback book. Her favorite, told in letter form, was Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey's 1978 novel, "A Woman of Independent Means."

Her husband died of a heart attack in 1984 when she was 42 and her children were 13, 16 and 18 years old, and she was a single parent until she remarried in 1991. It was a difficult time, but she was widely admired for her courage and resilience in supporting her children and forging a path as a strong, independent person. She supported other friends and family members who became young widows or experienced loss. She later took a position as a church receptionist at Northwoods where she worked for a decade. She encouraged and supported her three children who all attended university and received advanced degrees. Bonnie's children became a journalist, a nutrition educator, and a graphic designer, and it was her creativity, encouragement, and influence that made their career pursuits possible.

After reconnecting with another Conoco Oil family she'd know for decades through her volunteer work in congregational care at the church, she married James A. Rooker, who was also widowed, at Northwoods on August 4, 1991. It was one of her happiest days of her life. They were married for 20 years, and she worked diligently to help blend the two families and create new holiday traditions.

She experienced another tragedy in 2001 when her daughter, Laura Kay, was killed in a car accident in Oklahoma where she lived and worked as a nutrition educator for the federal public health program Women Infants Children (WIC). Somehow Bonnie continued on, drawing from the support of her husband Jim, friends and family, and her own inner strength. In 2002, she established a scholarship fund in her daughter's name, the Laura K. Savage Creativity in Nutrition Education Award at Oklahoma State University, where Laura and Jeff received their degrees.

Also in 2002, Jeff married Michelle Suzette Northrup, who she and Jim welcomed into the family, not as a daughter-in-law, but as a daughter. Eventually, Bonnie would become a grandmother, and exuberantly welcomed "Little Savages"—first with Soren Wade in 2006, followed by Josephine Kay in 2010. She was affectionately called, and proudly known as "Mama Bee." Through the hugs, kisses and hand-drawn cards, they loved each other through and through.

Bonnie enjoyed her circle of friends and traveled widely into retirement. Jim died in 2011 and she eventually moved to The Solana Preserve at Vintage Park in Houston, Texas, where she had a fun group of happy hour regulars who gathered daily for a glass of wine.

After a stroke in 2021 from which she largely recovered, she and her eldest son, Todd, decided to move back to Madison to be close to her sister, brother, and other family members. When they decided to move, she said, despite the winter, "It will be an adventure!" In Madison, she lived at Oakwood Village Prairie Ridge on the east side where she befriended another veteran flight attendant and had loving connections with caregivers, wait staff, and drivers. She touched everyone she met and attended weekly church services and enjoyed singing along to the hymns, with her son and brother, at the community chapel. During this time, she attended many holidays and family celebrations in her sister's home, cheered "bravo" at musicals and Christmas programs at the Overture Center, visited the Olbrich Botanical Gardens and favorite restaurants with her son, attended her East High school reunions each summer where men recalled their crushes on her, enjoyed visits from lifelong friends and family, and relaxed watching movies and visiting the pot of red geraniums that she and her son planted in the Oakwood community garden.

Bonnie exuded empathy and connected with people in every environment. She was a great listener. She always asked someone's name and remembered it; she inquired about people about their lives and jobs; she noticed their new shoes or nails or hair and complimented them, even on days when she had reason not to feel well. Caregivers came to her to ask for her romantic advice. She rarely complained. She was a strong, independent, creative, loving, caring woman whose example inspires us in our own lives. She would often say she loved and was loved by two good men; was always encouraging and supportive of her three children; and proudly doted on her two grandchildren. We will miss and love her every day — but as she always advised us in hard times, we will "keep plugging."

Bonnie is survived by sons, Todd Allen Savage of Madison and Jeffrey Wade Savage and wife, Suzette, of Bentonville, Ark.; grandchildren, Soren and Josephine; brother, Dale Sorenson of Madison; niece, Dawn Moret; grandniece, Natalia Weaver and husband, Austin Weaver; great-great nephew August Weaver; and step-children Robin Johnson, Brad Rooker, and Tom Rooker. She was preceded in death by her beloved daughter, Laura Kay Savage; and by her beloved sister, Sandra Lynn Junkeris. She was also preceded in death by her first husband, Alfred Allen Savage; second husband, James Rooker and step-son, Bruce Rooker.

Services were held in Madison, Wis., on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at Oakwood Village Prairie Ridge, 5565 Tancho Drive, Madison, with family visitation at 12:30 p.m. and services at 1 p.m.

An intimate graveside service will be held on August 5, 2026, at 9 a.m. at Klein Memorial Park, (32509 TX-249, Pinehurst, TX 77362), followed by a memorial service at Northwoods Presbyterian Church, 3320 Cypress Creek Parkway, Houston, Texas. She will be placed to rest next to her husband, Jim Rooker, and nearby to her first husband, Al Savage and daughter, Laura.

In lieu of flowers, we ask for donations be made to the American Cancer Society in her honor or to further endow the Laura K. Savage Creativity in Nutrition Education Award at Oklahoma State University.