Bonnie Jane Staves

Bonnie Jane Staves, 56, of Earleville, Maryland passed away peacefully on June 8, 2024,
surrounded by family. She was born to Timothy and Patricia Bourke in Sheridan, Wyoming on
January 24, 1968. 

Bonnie will be remembered for having an unyielding drive and a nurturing soul. Her athletic and
artistic interests found an outlet early on in figure skating, and she spent many hours after
school improving her craft. The hours spent training enabled countless skating competitions
across New York state and the northeast, a silver medal at the Empire State Games, and the
chance to represent the Skating Club of Lake Placid as a young local skater in numerous parts
of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. A highlight was the chance to skate with Dorothy
Hamill for an ABC program promoting the upcoming Winter Olympics. 

Bonnie continued her focus on skating and athletics at university and was among the first class
of students at the University of Delaware to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Ice Science.
Upon graduation, she continued to pursue her love of figure skating by teaching at figure skating
clubs in Central New York.

Later she began an accomplished career in the telecommunications industry as a site
acquisition specialist for Clough Harbor & Associates in Rochester, New York. She moved to
Liverpool, New York to work with VoiceStream and further her development within the field.
When VoiceStream was acquired by Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), Bonnie accepted a position
in Baltimore as a Site Acquisition Manager and was responsible for the build-out of the cell
tower infrastructure for the greater Baltimore and District of Columbia areas. 

In her spare time, she enjoyed exercising, hiking in the Adirondacks, traveling—one of her
favorite destinations was New Zealand—and she loved being at home cooking and working in
the gardens. She also deeply loved her dogs. Undeniably one of the most rewarding
experiences for Bonnie was starting a family with her husband and raising their daughter, whom
she protected fiercely and always dressed to the nines.

She is remembered by her loving husband, Thomas Staves, her daughter Madison Staves, her
father Timothy Bourke, stepmother Linda Bourke, and her sister Aimee Bourke Foster. Bonnie is
preceded in death by her mother, Patrica Ann Bourke.

A Celebration of Life to honor Bonnie will be held on June 28, 2024. Please reach out to her
family for details. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Bonnie’s memory can be made to Serenity
Sistas, (serenitysistas.org) a non-profit 501(c) of Annapolis, MD would be a welcome way to
honor her.