Bonnie Jean Mandel, born Dec. 7, 1963, passed away on April 23, 2026.
Raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and Overland Park, Kansas, Bonnie earned degrees at Tulane University and Georgia Tech. She lived in Atlanta for 26 years before moving to Spokane, Washington, in 2012. She was a CPA and spent most of her career in controller roles for large and medium-sized businesses. Although Bonnie loved the challenge of learning new industries and was a diligent, competent and conscientious employee, she was thrilled to retire at age 58.
She met her beloved husband, Jeff, while on an Atlanta Ski Club trip to Sun Valley. Bonnie treasured Jeff’s daughter, Carolina, who was four when Bonnie came into their lives.
Bonnie was an avid reader as a youngster, and her love of reading continued throughout her life. She was an active participant in multiple book clubs. A love for poetry began after discovering the podcast Poetry Unbound and the genius of Pádraig Ó Tuama’s insight and analysis.
Her parents passed on a love of travel. From her father, Bonnie inherited the joy of alpine skiing. Bonnie travelled broadly throughout her life. She spoke Spanish fluently and made trips to Mexico, Spain, Peru, Argentina, Ecuador and Panama. There were also trips to Japan, Europe and all across the farthest reaches of the United States. She loved hot springs, paddling, swimming, hiking, Nordic skiing and cycling. She had a wide range of musical tastes and particularly enjoyed live music.
Over the years, she devoted many hours to volunteer pursuits, including adult literacy, Save Georgia’s Hemlocks, AWARE Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, refugee causes and the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy.
In the last 16 months of her life, a rare esophageal condition caused severe malnutrition and left her permanently unable to take in nutrition orally. She also had two neurological diseases, essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. She and her family are deeply grateful to Dr. Jason Aldred, Tiffany Raney ARNP and the team at Selkirk Neurology for their excellent care and compassion.
To know Bonnie was to share laughter, to see determination and to be embraced by the force of a woman who lived fully. Her friends and family hope that her spirit will live on in some of her favorite places: soaking at Goldbug Hot Springs, Nordic skiing in the Methow Valley and hiking the Easy Pass trail in the North Cascades.
She is survived by her husband of 27 years, Jeff Bushman; parents, Edward and Ellen Mandel of Overland Park, Kansas; sister, Meredith Mandel and husband Jose Cifuentes of Kansas City, Missouri; and daughter, Carolina Bushman and fiancé Tara Hall of Chicago, Illinois.
No flowers or plants please. The family requests donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation (michaeljfox.org) or the International Essential Tremor Foundation (essentialtremor.org). Please specify that your donations go to research.
