Editing Bonnie Nettles (section)

==Death==
Many events passed in creation of the Heaven's Gate group and the formation of its core members, with Nettles continuing to act as the interpreter of signs and the [[Mysticism|mystic]] of the group. In 1983, she had to have an eye removed due to cancer, and her doctor informed her that the disease was already spreading through the rest of her body. Nettles stated that the doctor was ignorant and believed, along with Applewhite, that she could not die, as they had to ascend together. The cancer continued to worsen, moving to her [[liver]]. Nettles died on June 19, 1985, at [[Parkland Memorial Hospital]] in [[Dallas, Texas]]. While there as a patient, she used the pseudonym Shelly West.<ref name="Glory" /><ref name="Zeller, Benjamin 2014, p. 113">[[Zeller, Benjamin]] ''Heaven's Gate, America's UFO Religion'', 2014, p. 113</ref>

Applewhite convinced the rest of the group that Nettles' "broken-down vehicle was left behind". He had her body [[cremation|cremated]] and her ashes were then spread upon a lake somewhere in Texas.<ref name="Glory" /> Applewhite explained to the group that Nettles had left because her work was done on this level but that he himself still had more that he had to do. Applewhite also said that Nettles would continue to help them from the Next Level.

Scholars have viewed the death of Nettles as a key turning point in the history of Heaven's Gate, as it caused the theology to shift from a belief that they would physically [[Entering heaven alive|ascend to heaven while alive]] aboard a UFO to viewing the body as merely a "vehicle" for the soul which would be discarded upon entering heaven, which would culminate in the group's mass suicide in 1997.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zeller|first=Benjamin Ethan|author-link=Benjamin E. Zeller |date=2006-11-01|title=Scaling Heaven's Gate: Individualism and Salvation in a New Religious Movement|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/10/2/75/95305/Scaling-Heaven-s-Gate-Individualism-and-Salvation?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=Nova Religio|language=en|volume=10|issue=2|pages=75–102|doi=10.1525/nr.2006.10.2.75|issn=1092-6690|url-access=subscription}}</ref>