RIP Don Bonnel: A Popular Seascape Ambassador, ASMC Stalwart and Great Gentleman

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 55^th 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.