Herman Richard Bonett

Herman Richard Bonett (BA,MA,Phd) was born on May 10, 1930 in Philadelphia, PA to Herman Raymond and Irma (Cardelino) Bonett. He died Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at Warrensburg, MO.
As the eldest child (the first son of a first son) in a working-class family during the early days of the "Great Depression" he learned about work early, taking jobs while still in junior high and high school: first as a "soda jerk" at a neighborhood pharmacy during WWII, then as the night shipping clerk for a bakery of a large east coast grocery chain. Two months after being graduated in 1948 from Simon Gratz high School he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He would later say "I was born in Philadelphia and grew up on Parris Island, South Carolina."
As a better than average clarinet player in the high school band he auditioned for and was accepted into the post band at Parris Island on completion of basic training. The band was engaged to appear in January 1949 at the Orange Bowl festivities in Miami. He later was assigned to the bands at Quantico, VA and San Francisco while advancing to the rank of staff sergeant. The San Francisco band had the honor (among others) of performing at the dedication of the Shasta Dam in northern California with the screen star Danny Kaye as master of ceremonies. As a staff sergeant, Mr. Bonett concluded his nearly six years of Marine Corps service with a two year assignment as an embassy security guard in Rome, Italy, under the ambassadorship of author and wife of the publisher of Time and Life magazines Clair Booth Luce from 1952 to 1954.
With the inducement of the renewal of GI benefits for Korean War area veterans, Mr. Bonett left the service to pursue a degree in music and education at the Municipal University of Wichita in the fall of 1954. It was there in an introductory geology lab that he met a freshman who would become his future wife, Susan Pate Hartmetz.
Switching interests from music to American history and political science, Mr. Bonett earned his BA degree in the fall of 1957 and started his first full time civilian job as a probationary reporter-photographer on a small-town daily newspaper, The El Dorado Times, under the esteemed publisher Rolla A. Clymer. While working at the Times he married his former lab partner who had gone on to earn her master's degree in library science from the University of Denver.
In the spring of 1960, the couple moved to Kansas City where Mr. Bonett had been hired as a general assignment reporter for The Kansas City Star's morning edition, The Times, working mostly out of the Johnson County suburban bureau in Mission. After two failed pregnancies, the Bonetts returned to college life at the University of Kansas, where Mr. Bonett earned a master's degree in journalism. In 1963, Mr. Bonett won a teaching assistantship to pursue a doctorate in political science at KU.
In the fall of 1967, the couple moved to Warrensburg, MO where Mr. Bonett joined the political science department at then Central Missouri State University. Because of a nepotism policy at CMSU, Susan took a position as an assistant at the newly created Trails Regional Library, encompassing several branch libraries throughout Johnson & Lafayette counties.
Leaving the classroom to pursue other activities, Mr. Bonett became active in the real estate industry including acquiring and rehabbing rental properties and working as an appraiser.
With more control of his schedule, Mr. Bonett returned to his original love, music. Having abandoned playing altogether for some 25 years, Mr. Bonett was induced to reestablish "his chops" on the occasion of the creation of the Warrensburg Community Band for their summer outdoor concert series. He also learned the art of piano tuning and repair as a member of the Piano Technicians Guild. Mr. Bonett took a serious interest in gardening and developed something of a local reputation for home landscaping and for growing tea and floribunda roses. He earned his Master Gardner certificate from the University of Missouri Extension Service.
Mr. Bonett is survived by a sister Eleanor Mullen (William), Wildwood, NJ, four brothers, Donald Bonett (Sandy) Kunkletown, PA, Eugene Bonett (Natalie) Palm, PA, Ronald Bonett (Marie) So. Williamsport, PA and John Bonett (Margaret) Albrightsville PA and numerous nieces and nephews.
Mr. Bonett was preceded in death by his wife, Susan, brother Edward Bonett, and sister Joan Ramsey.
There are no services scheduled at this time.
Arrangements entrusted to Williams Funeral Chapel in Warrensburg.
Online condolences may be left at www.williamsfuneralchapel.net