Born Oct. 1, 1910 to "Charles" Parker and Emma Krause in Rowena, Texas.

Bonnie had two older brothers; Coley who died of crib death and Hubert "Buster" Parker. She had a sister Billie Jean Parker and a half sister Nell Gonzalas. Charles made a modest living as a brick layer. Bonnie was too young for school but her older brother Buster went to the Rowena School. In 1914, when Bonnie was only 4 years old, her father died. Emma moved her family to Cement City in Dallas, Texas.

Bonnie was a sweet girl and generous to a fault. She loved babies and hopes to have a family of her own one day. As she moved up to high school, it was apparent that she had a promising future ahead. She was a talented poet and loved attention. She was popular, especially among the guys. While in her second year of high school she married Roy Glynn Thornton on Sept. 25, 1926.

Bonnie still clinged to her mother which led to a rocky start in the marriage. Roy was a bit of an outlaw and said to have been abusive. He would take off for months at a time, return only to leave her with a broken heart again. She would spend her evenings crying and writing in her diary. She started going to movies with friends to distract her from her sorrow. Although Bonnie never divorced Roy, she resigned herself to the fact her marriage was over. Roy went to jail and she just couldn't bring herself to kick a man when he was down.

Bonnie had to move on with her life and took a job as a waitress. She worked at several cafes; The American Cafe, The Texan Cafe and Hargraves Cafe. Bonnie had a generous heart. She was known to spend a majority of her wages buying meals for the hungry that she passed to them from the back door of the cafes.

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