Services for Don Bonnel, a longtime ambassador and active
ASMC member, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13 at St. Joseph ’s Catholic Community in Capitola.
Bonnel, 80, whose passion for golf was matched only by his
love of fishing, gardening and his beloved wife Helen, died Friday, Aug. 22, at
Dominican Hospital
in Santa Cruz ,
surrounded by his family. It was the 55th anniversary of his
marriage to Helen on Aug. 22, 1959.
Born in Martinez ,
Dec. 11, 1933, Donald Thomas Bonnel was the youngest of three sons of Albert
and Mildred McNamara Bonnel. He was a graduate of Bellarmine College
Preparatory in San Jose , where he played
basketball, and attended the University
of San Francisco
Bonnel joined the U.S. Air Force in 1956, serving for a time
in Morocco , until his
assignment to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma
City . It was there, in 1958, at the Lakeside Lounge
that he met 19-year-old Oklahoma
native Helen Dutton, who had gone out dancing.
Don and Helen were engaged in December of that year and
married the following August. They lived for a while in Clovis ,
N.M. , while Don finished his service and then
moved to Martinez .
Don worked in purchasing at Philco-Ford and Avnet Electronics in Mountain View
and they moved to Palo Alto , Mountain
View and then Santa Clara .
In 1965, Bonnel took a job as purchasing manager at
Plantronics in Santa Cruz and in 1968 the young
family moved over the hill to Santa
Cruz , right by the Capitola border. Don coached Little
League and served for a while as president of the Live Oak Little League,
helping to get the first snack shack built for the Little League ball field.
Bonnel played basketball on the Plantronics team in the city
league and coached basketball for juniors. He was a member of St. Joseph’s
Catholic Community and a member of the Italian Catholic Federation, of which he
was president for two years. He retired from Plantronics in June of 1998.
He was an ambassador at Seascape for more than 14 years, a
dedicated 49ers and Giants fan, a weed-destroying gardener and an avid trout
fisherman, especially in the streams around Lake Tahoe ,
where he and Helen rented and then owed a summer retreat.
“He loved being an ambassador at Seascape,” Helen said. “He
got to know everyone who’d play on Monday when he was the greeter.”
In recent years, Bonnel struggled with health issues,
including a quadruple bypass in 2003, prostate cancer and myelodysplastic
syndrome (MDS). But practically nothing could keep him from showing up for his
job at Seascape.
Besides Helen, he is survived by four children: Donna, Steve
and John Bonnel and Karen Nelson.
“We lost a true friend, a dear gentleman and a devoted
member of the ASMC,” club president Danny Braga said in an email to members. “Our thoughts and prayers
go out to Helen and the family.”
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Italian Catholic Federation Branch 227 Scholarship Fund, c/o St. Joseph's Catholic Community, 435 Monterey Ave., Capitola, CA 95010.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Italian Catholic Federation Branch 227 Scholarship Fund, c/o St. Joseph's Catholic Community, 435 Monterey Ave., Capitola, CA 95010.
