Barbara Ann Jezior

Barbara Ann Jezior (née Teeters), known as Bonnie, 82 years old, died peacefully on September 12, in Cary, NC. The cause was complications caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS aka Lou Gehrig’s disease), a horrific disease that mercilessly robbed her of her ability to move and breathe. Bonnie was a highly intelligent loving mother, gourmet cook, perpetual student, and consummate host and social butterfly, and had a wide range of interests and talents. She took true interest in her neighborhood, no matter where she lived, and developed strong social networks and many close friends. Bonnie was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, on April 17, 1941, to Colonel Bernard Teeters, US Army, (Ret.) and Peggy Teeters, author. Bonnie’s husband, Colonel Anthony M. Jezior, US Army, (Ret.) preceded her in death. She leaves behind her three daughters, Susan Jezior Slane (Brian), Deborah Jezior, and Kathryn Jezior (Ron Lattanze). In addition, she leaves behind four grandchildren (Patrick Slane, Andrea Slane Argomaniz (Manny), Samantha and Alexa Lattanze), a great grandson (Samuel Anthony Argomaniz), and her four brothers (Michael, Trooper, David, and Alan Teeters). Bonnie also leaves behind many, many close friends whom she met while living and working in multiple locations. Bonnie traveled the world as a child, as her father was a career officer in the US Army. His assignments took her to Japan in the 1940s, and Germany in the 1950s. She met her husband, Anthony M. Jezior in Berlin, Germany, where he was stationed as a lieutenant. Bonnie began her career with Department of Army (DoA)at Natick Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Natick, Massachusetts, in 1982, as a Project Officer, ensuring consumer acceptance of developing military instruments using her human factor engineering expertise. Bonnie had a highly successful career and achieved the roles of Chief of the Human Factors Branch in Natick, Natick Liaison Officer in Washington D.C., and Senior Staff Advisor at Natick Labs. In 1996, as a civilian student, Bonnie was selected to attend the prestigious Army War College in Carlisle Barracks, PA where she also taught as a faculty member for a year. Bonnie retired in 2003 and continued to provide her expertise to the DoA as a consultant through GEO-Centers. In addition to a degree from the Army War College, Bonnie received a B.A. degree in German from the University of Rhode Island in 1976 and her M.S. in Psychology from Fitchburg State College. Bonnie, a devoted mother, was a self-taught gourmet cook, inspired initially by Michael Fields and Julia Childs, and raised her three girls on glorious dinners. Home-baked bread from the Zen monastery of Buddhist monks in northern California was toasted and slathered with butter or peanut butter and devoured by the loaf, often while still warm. She also gained significant inspiration from chefs Todd English, Jamie Oliver, Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, and Schlesinger and Willoughby. At times, she even grew her own herbs to use in her cooking. Bonnie was also a self-taught wine connoisseur and provided her pairing expertise with recipes highlighting their products to Idylwilde Farms, a gourmet food/fruit/veggie store in Acton, Massachusetts. She took this talent to the farmers’ markets in Murrieta, California, upon her move to California after she retired. Her love of cooking and socializing led Bonnie to host dinner parties galore. She loved to entertain and went all-out with the planning and cooking. She incorporated food into one of her many book clubs in her retirement and, with at least one of the clubs of which she was a member, she created a ‘food theme,’ where the members of the club brought recipes that reflected the country or theme of the book that was read. To provide recipes and guidance to the world, Bonnie developed her own food/recipe blog using WordPress. Due to her incredible repertoire of recipes, Bonnie authored two family cookbooks; the first volume contained recipes that she made during her daughters’ growing-up years, and a subsequent volume for their adult years. She spent copious hours learning how to use special cookbook-writing software. These two cookbooks have been shared widely with other relatives and friends, some of whom were able to enjoy the recipes during the years that she originally cooked them. After about eight years in California, Bonnie decided to move to the Raleigh/Durham area in N.C. and was part of a large social circle in her community. In addition, she voluntarily provided valuable scientific information to Synapticure (a company dedicated to improving ALS patient outcomes through cutting-edge research and innovative solutions) about the disease(s) affecting her. Due to a suspected undiagnosed co-morbidity, the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, through the NIH, accepted her into its program to try to ascertain what the co-morbidity was and if there could be a treatment. We are very grateful and thankful for the ALS team at Duke who was very committed to helping her through these years. Bonnie’s Celebration of Life will be held in Cary, N.C, at Wake Memorial Park, on October 16th at 3:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in her memory to The ALS Association North Carolina Chapter (mail to 4 N Blount St Suite 200 Raleigh, NC 27601 or online at give.alsnc.org).

Barbara Ann Jezior

April 17, 1941 - September 12, 2023