A former Monroe County resident recently turned 100.

Bonnie (Steingrubey) Berry, now a resident of Godfrey, was born March 10, 1924, in St. Louis, the daughter of Harry and Thelma Steingrubey of Fults.

She attended three years at Maeystown High School before graduating from Waterloo High School and then attending Lakeview Business College in Alton. 

After graduation, Bonnie was employed as a legal secretary for the Department of the Attorney General in Washington, D.C., during World War II. She also worked as a secretary in the Alton/Wood River area for 15 years.

In 1951, she married Harold Berry and raised two daughters, who gave the couple three grandchildren. 

Bonnie made use of her classical piano training and natural music talent to entertain professionally at supper clubs and on radio station WOKZ in Alton. Other musical endeavors include singing in her church choir and officiating as part-time church organist at St. Francis Church in Jerseyville. 

She and her husband were members of the Carrollton Community Chorus for 20 years. 

Widowed in 1985, Bonnie moved to a retirement community in Godfrey. 

Her hobbies include musical entertainment, oil painting and writing. Her poetry and essays were published in “Tales From Two Rivers” and various publication