Author inspired by life’s ups, down

By Vivian (Makela) Sazama

Bonnie painted this picture that she used on one of her book covers. Photo by Vivian Sazama

English and Russian teacher, registered nurse, author, and artist, Bonnie Tinnes of Bemidji, is a woman of many talents and gifts and is happy to share with others what she has learned over her career and life.

Born in 1944, one of eight children, Bonnie grew up in Ellerth, Minn., located in northwest Minnesota.  She has a deep well to draw from for the 10 books she has written so far.

“All four of my grandparents immigrated to America from Norway in the late 1800s to early 1900s. My genealogy dates back to the 700s with Vikings, who rubbed shoulders with English royalty.

Bonnie’s maternal grandfather, Andrew Aanenson came to Nielsville in Polk County from southeastern Minnesota to teach school in a one-room schoolhouse. 

“My grandmother, Lettie, was one of his students. Andrew, together with several of his bachelor brothers homesteaded a farm, which Andrew and Lettie later inherited,” said Bonnie. “That is where my mother, Esther Aanenson, was raised.

Bonnie’s dad was raised west of Newfolden on the farm with 11 siblings. 

“He was a smart person, and he loved politics. He went to Aakers Business School in Grand Forks after graduating from high school and graduated highest in his class,” said Bonnie.

When her parents were married, they moved to Montana until the crash of the 1930s. “They then returned to Minnesota where opportunities were more available to raise a family. They bought the store in Ellerth that was right across the road from the church and the Fairview School, and also some land, which my dad farmed.

Bonnie and her family lived in the store.

“Over the years, dad served on the Church Board and School Board and was a Marshall County Commissioner for a time. He was one to ‘get things done,’ she said. “He also had an opera singer voice, and when he went to check on his fields he always liked to take one of us with him and would belt out silly little songs. We learned that if the fields looked good, then life was good for a while! If the fields looked bad then he’d say, ‘Got to tighten our belts, things are going to get tough.’”

Bonnie said her mom had her hands full with the store and raising the kids. 

“More than once she would say, ‘You settle down, or you’ll wake up all those dead people!’ The church and cemetery were right across the road from us,” Bonnie said with a smile.

Bonnie learned loss at an early age when a baby brother passed away only a few days after birth. “He was the youngest of us all,” said Bonnie. She also learned how to become a fiction author in later years when at a young age she created an imaginary friend to fill in the gap left between her and her older siblings. “I named her Cocoa Anderson,” said Bonnie.

Because of the proximity of the Fairview School, which was a one-room schoolhouse, Bonnie would often run over to it before she was old enough to attend. “I finally started first grade when I was five because I was over there already so much!” she laughed.

Author Bonnie Tinnes of Bemidji writes fiction and poetry drawing from her youth. Photo by Vivian Sazama

The school closed after her first year and then she began school in Newfolden, graduating in 1961, at age 17. “I went to college at Bemidji State University and graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor’s teaching degree in English and Russian. Looking back, I probably would have been better off to have taken Spanish instead,” she said.

Bonnie moved to California to begin her teaching career at Huntington Beach. “It was nice to be only a block from the Pacific Ocean though I had to cross the very busy Pacific Coast Highway,” she said. “It also was during the Watts Riots that were on the north side of Los Angeles. After that first year I decided that I really didn’t know how to drive around there so I returned to Minnesota and taught in Hallock and Oslo.”

In 1968 Bonnie married Gilmen Tinnes, who was 14 years older. “He was always so active and we were married nearly 57 years,” she said. Gilmen lived a long life and passed away in 2024, at age 94.

After the couple married, Bonnie stopped teaching to raise their two children, Janna and Jon. While in her 30s and still living on their farm near Oslo, Bonnie experienced severe depression, which she attributed to hormonal imbalances and endometriosis. 

“I needed help, and someone mentioned a pastor in Crookston who did counseling. He helped me a lot,” she said. “I wrote my first book, I Am a Woman: I Am a Person, a self-help book about learning about yourself, and started speaking at different women’s events.

“In my forties after the children were grown I went back to school in Thief River Falls and got my LPN degree, and then went on to get my two-year RN nursing degree. At that time, it was encouraged to get a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, so I went to UND in Grand Forks for that. I graduated with my BSN on the same day as Janna! I was 50 years old.”

Bonnie worked at Valley Memorial Homes and during summers she helped to build up a Migrant Clinic in Grafton, N.D. In 1995, after Gilmen retired, the couple moved to Brainerd where Bonnie worked at two Brainerd State Hospital psych units until she retired at age 65. “I still worked part time at several schools doing assessments for a few years,” she said.

After Bonnie retired, the couple moved to Bemidji where Bonnie continued her writing career. She has written Gilmen’s autobiography, two poetry books, three children’s books and several fictions, based on the history and culture of the 1950-60s.

Bonnie has used her art for several of her book covers, one being a painting of flowers for her book, Dancing Barefoot in the Wind. For her Margaret Trilogy fiction book, Bonnie took a beautiful photograph of a vase of flowers for the cover. The trilogy is a culmination of her three books, Growing Up Margaret, Margaret Inc. and A Dozen Summers, which takes the readers from the 1950s to 1970.

“I have had a lot of help from God,” said Bonnie. “There were many times when I would wake up in the middle of the night and the words would just flow out, page after page, and I know they were from God. I always like to say, ‘If I did it, so can you!’ with the help of God.”