Profiles of Life: Bonnie Jean Mead Price

Bonnie Price proved clever enough to reach people with little sticks and yarn.

Price, 46, usually performed activities with her patients specifically tailored to that person's interests from earlier in life.

Her late father, who put up cattle fences years before contracting Alzheimer's disease, would construct miniatures using Popsicle sticks and string under her guidance.

"She was very creative in her activities," said Price's sister, Linda Dawkins of Piedmont. "She could individualize activities to something they had done before. I would never have thought of that."

Price sang with the patients and bought puzzle books for them. She talked with Dawkins, a fellow nurse, about running a nursing home someday. She had recently graduated from nursing school nearly 20 years since finishing high school.

She also reached out to her friends by throwing parties. One of her favorite hobbies was to cook, especially party food. She did that when she helped with her son Jeff's wedding reception recently, setting up a hot dog roast especially for the children.

Her co-workers told Dawkins that Bonnie was "bouncy, energetic and always smiling." She also enjoyed quiet times taking in Reader's Digest at her cabin on Cedar Lake, gardening or playing with her dog, Czar, who survived the tornado.

"She had a lot of interesting things she liked to do," Dawkins said.

- Richard Tortorelli