Bonni Lou Kern Dies: Original ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ Mouseketeer Was 79

Greg Evans
·1 min read

Bonni Lou Kern, one of the original Mouseketeers on television’s pioneering The Mickey Mouse Club of the 1950s, died September 28 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Wooster, OH. She was 79.

Kern, a California native whose married name was Bonni Carr, appeared as a Mouseketeer in 1955-56 and was featured in the episode titled “Save Bonni Lou Kern!” in which the 14-year-old girl was caught in a fishing net. She also appeared in the spinoff film Save the Wonder Mouseketeers!

Watch a clip of Kern on The Mickey Mouse Club below.

According to her family, Kern was a recipient of Disney’s in-house Mousecar Award, as well as the key to Fantasy Land. Kern later was a longtime employee of Lowe’s Home Improvement.

Kern married Harold “Bud” Carr in the late 1960s in Hawaii (he precedes her in death). She is survived by her daughters Kimberly Ellington, Allyson Struzan and Janet; six grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren, according to the Roberts Funeral Home of Wooster.

In keeping with her wishes, there will be no services, though the family asks that memorial contributions be made to COPD Foundation of Miami, FL.

Here’s Kern on The Mickey Mouse Club:

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