Bonner Lewis Shinn's Obituary
SHINN, BONNER LEWIS of Dallas, Texas, died March 21, 2013. He was born December 9, 1919, in Russellville, Arkansas, to Clarence Monroe Shinn and Stella Elnora (Tucker) Shinn, in Russellville, Arkansas, where he grew up on his parents’ farm. After high school he taught for two years in the same one room school he attended as a child. He graduated from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, and went on to graduate from the University of Arkansas Medical School in 1944. He completed an internship at Methodist Hospital in Dallas where he met his future wife, Mildred Bludworth, a nursing student. During this time, in 1942, Bonner joined the US Naval Reserve. In September 1945, he was sent for active duty to the Naval Hospital, Oakland, California, and, in February 1946, to Miramar Airwing, Miramar, California. He was discharged to inactive duty in 1946, but recalled to active duty in the Korean War as a psychiatrist in San Diego, California. In 1954 he was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant, Medical Corps USNR. During his time in the Navy, and between his periods of active duty, He concentrated on his personal and professional life. He married Mildred Elizabeth Bludworth in California on Friday, April 13, 1946, and had 2 children, Linda, born 1949, and Barbara, 1952. He went into the general practice of medicine in Grand Prairie in 1946, and later, from 1949-1952 completed a psychiatry residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. He had a private psychiatry practice in Oak Cliff from 1954 until his retirement in 1990, which included consulting on patients at Methodist Hospital. During this time he also, with Maurice Fain, M D, built, administered and attended the residents of Colonial Acres nursing home. Over the years and in his retirement, he enjoyed golf, fishing, bridge, ballroom dancing, spending time at his beloved lake house, Rotary club, raising tomatoes, involvement in the Kiwanis and Men’s Garden Club, traveling and volunteering with Mildred, attending the retired doctor’s’ lunches at Methodist Hospital, spending time with his family and playing with his grandchildren. He was an active member of Northway Christian Church. He was preceded in death by his parents, Clarence and Stella Shinn, and a baby sister, Norma Shinn. He is survived by his wife, Mildred Shinn; his sister, Janet Crice; daughters, Linda Hinkle and husband Chris and Barbara Shinn; grandchildren: Michael Hinkle, Thomas Colley, and Sarah Colley; nieces, Mary Pierce, Susan Dorsey, Margie Ann Cilio and Sheri Brown. The family will hold a private memorial service. He always put others before himself. He always listened. He was the rock of our family.
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