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William Joseph Bonner
1939 - 2016
William Joseph "Bill" Bonner died on July 15, 2016 after an extended bout with cancer. He was born on August 16, 1939, to Joseph Bonner and Aldine Eleanor Bonner, in Nowata, Oklahoma, the first of three children. After graduating from the Nowata Public Schools in 1957, he attended Phillips University on a National Merit Scholarship, graduating in 1961. Thereafter he attended the George Washington University School of International Relations on a Scottish Rite Fellowship.
He was commissioned as a line officer in 1962 in the United States Navy, serving on the USS Alstede (AF-48) and the USS Conway (DD-507). He married the former Sue Hope Johnson, whom he met at Phillips, on August 11, 1963. They have two children, William Christian (Wim) Bonner and Eleanor Hope Bonner, of Seattle and Boise, and two grandchildren, Aidan Brace Gamel and Megan Marie Gamel, of Boise. He is also survived by his sisters, Martha Ann Bonner and Linda Bonner Frost.
Bill and Sue traveled extensively, both for employment and enjoyment, including Apollo, Pennsylvania; Carrollton, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Valdez, Alaska; Lexington, Kentucky; Parrish, Florida; and Boise, Idaho. Bill graduated from The George Washington University Law School in 1969, and thereafter was employed as an attorney and then an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alaska. He served as an Acting District Court Judge in Valdez before returning to private practice.
In 1999 he returned to graduate school, obtaining a Masters of Social Work from the University of Kentucky and a Master of Arts in Divinity from the Lexington Theological Seminary in 2002. Practice as a supervisor with the Child Development Center in Florida was cut short to spend more time with family, so Bill and Sue moved to the Boise area in 2004 to retire.
Scattering of his ashes at the Idaho Veterans Cemetery will take place at a private ceremony. No memorial service is planned, donations to charities in his name would be welcomed.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Sponsored by The Idaho Statesman.
2 Entries
Bill was a classmate of mine in Nowata many moons ago, so sorry for your loss & just know he's no longer suffering.
Butch Nunnallee
July 29, 2016
To all family and friends..please take comfort from God and know his suffering is over..God will take care of BI'll from here...love to all Christine Mann
Christine Mann
July 26, 2016
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