Obit: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (1911-2001)

Subject: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 08:42 PM

Bill Bonyun passed away this morning in Damariscotta. A memorial service is planned for September.

His son Archie can be reached at [e-mail] 882-6645 51 Bonyun Rd Westport, Maine 04578

Clear skies and fair winds, Cappy

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: SINSULL
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 08:46 PM

Oh No! I just discovered him, started collecting some LPs, and hoped to contact him with some questions. So sad to lose another brilliant voice.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Naemanson
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:06 PM

Oh No! What a wonderful guy with such great stories and songs. We've lost a great one.

I will never forget the trip to the Mystic Sea Music Festival with him, Charley Noble, and Fred Gosbee. He was such a great guy for talking to people. He didn't walk across the green as much as talk his way across the green. It was one of my proudest moments to take the stage on the first night to sing back up for him.

Thanks for everything, Bill.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: kendall
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 10:14 PM

Bill was an old friend. He once told me that he came from a family that didn't live long, well, he broke that pattern. I'd like to think he is reunited with Jean.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 10:45 PM

My family knew Bill when he first came to Maine as an aspiring American novelist in the 1930's. They had great folk song parties together and Bill discovered that singing folk songs is what he really wanted to do, and he devoted the rest of his life sharing that joy with as many people, young and old, as he could reach.

He was a pioneer for bringing folk songs to the classroom, starting in the 1940's. He and his wife Gene produced a whole series of historical albums of folksongs on their own Heirloom label. They also collaborated on a wonderful book called Full Hold & Splendid Passage with excepts from diaries and letters of people who went to sea from 1815 to 1860, and the songs that time.

I aso fondly remember the song parties in their living room on Westport Island, and boating back late at night to our home across the cove.

And I'm pleased that Brett, Fred and I could join Bill at the Mystic Sea Port Museum when he was part of a program honoring Gale Huntington.

I also fondly remember the trip we took together a year before that to revisit Lunemburg, Nova Scotia, to present their Museum a collection of photographs Bill had taken aboard a fishing schooner after convinvcing them to sign him on as an overgrown ship's boy.

Damn, I'll miss Bill!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 01:22 AM

Caroline and I first met Bill (and Gene) when he was doing songs on the green at Sturbridge Village. Kept an ongoing friendship through his Heirloom years and the closing of his studio on Long Island. Last time we saw him was at the Chocolate Church in Maine, when he came to hear us do an evening there. We were delighted and very proud that he had made the effort to get there from the island. Loved him, admired him, and will miss him. He was one of the best.

By the way, a goodly number of copies of Full Hold and Splendid Passage may be found on Bookfinder (hope I did that right -- it's been a long time!).

Sandy

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Art Thieme
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 02:05 AM

A song Bill collected, "Master Of The Sheepfold", has been an important part of my songbag ever since I learned it. For me, that song's message, inclusiveness, not only widened my perspective generally, but it just may have saved my marriage---even in the face of needing to deal with folks who practiced exclusion and ostracism all while persuing what they said was the truth. It always seemed strange to me that I was the first one to record that song; it had been sung around for quite a long time before I found it.

I never did meet Bill Bonyun and I'm sorry about that. But he sure did do some important work saving some important musical artifacts for us all.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: georgeward
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 02:25 AM

We knew Bill and Gene only well enough to wish we knew them better. And at that, they were probably more inspiration to us than they knew. As they were to many. A mighty passing, really. Fare well to them both, then. - George ::-.--O

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: KathWestra
Date: 14 Aug 01 - 04:19 PM

A sad loss. I met Bill and Gene at a several-day workshop on American History in Song held in the Boston area in 1975. The Bonyuns, Tony Saletan, Jack Langstaff and others shared lots of terrific songs, as well as their ideas about how to use songs about historical events as a way to make history teaching come alive. (The presumption being that Americans would be more interested in learning about history when the Bicentennial rolled around.) Bill was a wonderful teacher who made the job of teaching look effortless (a look that belied all the thought and work he put into his presentations). A warm, wonderful person, too. RIP.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 10:03 AM

I've just heard from the Bonyun family that a memorial service is being planned for Bill at The Chocolate Church in Bath on Sunday, September 16, 2 pm. It's a great place to gather and share memories of a wonderful person who made a direct impression on thousands of young people, and their elders, with his songs and stories.

Some of Bill's recordings included: Yankee Legend, The American Revolution through Its Songs and Ballads, The Civil War through Its Songs and Ballads, Roll & Go – The Shantyman's Day aboard a Yankee Clipper, and Songs of Yankee Whaling.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Murrey
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 12:24 PM

I was was a young girl of thirteen when I first met Bill and Gene Bonyun .I truly believe I sing and love this music because of that early meeting and many,many more over the lasy 35 years. Bill was such a greta supprter of my efforts with the folkclub at the Chocolate Church over the last 15 years. He will be so missed and always remembered. Join your voice with the heavenly chorus and give dear Gene a big hug for me

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Dahlin
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 04:08 PM

I don't remember where or when I first met Bill or heard him perform with his wife. I only know that it was a long time ago and ever since he has been my idea of what a singer and teacher of the folk tradition should be. A kind and gentle man with with a true twinkle in his eye that many a hundred different things.

Fair winds and a following sea old singer and teacher of all who would listen.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 04:36 PM

Words fail...Fair winds and splendid passage, old friend.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Aug 01 - 05:17 PM

Art mentioned one of Bill and Gene's favorite songs. Here's another that I'm sure we'll sing at the memorial:

THE WELCOME SONG
(From the singing of Bill & Gene Bonyun who got the song from Dahlov Ipcar who learned it from her friend Wendy Holt in the 1940's. Traditional Wedding Song)

Chorus:

Come in the evening and come in the morning,
Come when you're looked for or come without warning;
Kisses and welcome will be here before you,
And the oftener you come, dear, the more I'll adore you.

Oh, happy was the day when first that I met you,
May your absence be long, I will n'er forget you;
Mellow is my heart since you said that you love me,
May the light from your eyes never fade from above me.
(CHO)

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,julia
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 10:06 AM

We sang for Bill last night at our concert-did "Fiddler's Green" and his version of "Rolling Home". Naemanson was there as well several other friends who knew him and kids who remembered him from school programs. 'Twas a mighty, joyous chorus in appreciation of a strong and gentle man, who, like water filled one's being and found a place to settle there. As such, I will always carry him with me.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Naemanson
Date: 16 Aug 01 - 11:38 AM

In Julia's sentence "Naemanson was there as well several other friends who knew him and kids who remembered him from school programs." the person refered to as "him" is Bill.

Sorry to be so picky Julia.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Aug 01 - 09:39 AM

Time to refresh one more time, and with another of Bill and Gene's favorite songs, slightly different from the vesion in the DT:

THE MASSA OF THE SHEEPFOLD
(As sung by Bill & Gene Bonyun Traditional)

Oh, the Massa of the sheepfold,
Who guards the sheepfold bin,
Looks out in the gloomin' rainpath
Where the long night rains begin,
And he calls to his hirelin' shepherd,
"Is me sheep, is they all brung in?"
And he calls to his hirelin' shepherd,
"Is me sheep, is they all brung in?"

Chorus:

The Massa guards the sheepfold bin,
And he wants to know is his sheep brung in,
And he's calling, calling, calling softly,
Softly calling for them all to come a-gatherin' in.

Then, the hirelin' shepherd answered,
"There's some that's black and thin,
And there's some they's poor old wedders
And they can't come home again;
They's lost and good for nothing,
But the rest, they's all brung in;
They's lost and good for nothing,
But the rest, they's all brung in." (CHO)

Then, the Massa of the sheepfold,
Who guards the sheepfold bin,
Went out in the gloomin' rainpath,
Where the long night rains begin,
And he let down the bars of the sheepfold,
Calling soft, "Come in, come in."
And he let down the bars of the sheepfold,
Calling soft, "Come in, come in." (CHO)

Then up from the gloomin' meadows,
Through the long night rain and wind,
And up from the gloomin' rainpath
Where the long night rains begin,
Came the poor lost sheep of the sheepfold,
They all came a-gatherin' in;
Came the poor lost sheep of the sheepfold,
They all came a-gatherin' in. (CHO)

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Aug 01 - 11:51 AM

Tony Saletan just e-mailed me that he's planning to attend the September memorial service. Anyone have an e-mail address for Sandy Eves?

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Brían
Date: 19 Aug 01 - 12:43 PM

I only met Bill once, but found him to be a warm, entertaining human being. I am sure he cast a great shadow on all the singers he met. he was a great story teller and seemed to have an enormous store of songs.

Brían.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 09:18 AM

Refreshed!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Liam's Brother
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 10:10 AM

I know of him only through some of his recordings which I have owned for many years. They were well prepared, very entertaining and showed a great love and knowledge of folk song.

Sorry to have never met you, Bill.

Dan Milner

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Anglo
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 02:37 PM

I hadn't posted to this thread before, so sorry this is a bit tardy. Bill was a lovely man, I met him at Charley Noble's house in Portland and we just talked the night away. My regret then was that I hadn't met him before; my regret now is that I only met him once or twice, briefly, after that. Safe journey, Bill.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Art Thieme
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 03:35 PM

Interestinly enough (some might say strangely enough) it seems that "Massa Of The Sheepfold", which I called "Master Of The Sheepfold" was originally poem called "De Sheepfol'" by Sarah Pratt McLean Greene (born: 1856 in Connecticut --- died: 1935 in Massachusetts

Here's her poem:

De massa ob de sheepfol'
Dat guards de sheepfol' bin
L:ook out on de gloomerin' meadows
Wha'r de long night rain begin
So he call to de hirelin' shepa'd
"Is my sheep, is dey all come in?
Mu sheep, is dey all come in?"

Oh den says de hirelin' sheppa'd
De's some de's blackand thin,
And some dey's po' old weddahs,
Dat can't come home again.
Dey's some black sheep and ol' weddahs,
But de res' dey's all brung in."

(It just went on like this, folks. You might can see now why I changed it from even the slight dialect that Bill kept in his singin' of it when I sang it as----------)

Oh, the master guards the sheepfold bin,
And he wants to know is my sheep brung in,
And he's calling, calling,
Calling softly, softly calling,
Fot them all to come gathering in.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 04:53 PM

Art, glad you posted this. I ran into something similar in one of my mother's old books entitled "Heart Throbs" which I hadn't been able to lay my hands on. I'm sure this song will make the rounds again, and when it resurfaces in Scotland you can bet it will be the "highland shepard."

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Aug 01 - 01:54 PM

John Anthony Scott and I have had many spirited exchanges on this song. Tony thinks the song originated with the shepherds of England and had no false dialect at all. But the poem by Ms Greene tells me a different tale.

I also have photocopy of a page from an 1890 hymnal that includes the song "De Massa Ob De Sheepfol'" with credit to Miss McLean --- with a tune credit to J.M. Whyte
The book is titled:

THE FINEST OF THE WHEAT
HYMNS OF THE NEW AND OLD
FOR MISSIONARY AND REVIVAL MEETING
AND SABBATH SCHOOLS

for C.C.McCabe, R.Sweeney, Wm. J.K. Kirkpatrick, the Whyte bros. of Canada and F.A. Hardin
63rd edition
edited by Geo. D. Elderkin
Chicago: R.R. McCabe & Co. publishers
@ 1890 by R.R. McCabe & George D. Elderkin

(Art Thieme)

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,Paul and Brena Bonyun
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 09:52 PM

Reading your notes moistens our eyes, warms our hearts, and soothes our souls. Thank you.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Sep 01 - 12:02 PM

Now that we are getting close the date for Bill's memorial service, I thought I'd refresh this thread for those who are planning to attend. The memorial service will take place at The Chocolate Church in Bath, Maine, on Sunday, September 16th, at 2 pm. My understanding is that people will be exchanging memories and sharing a few songs.

I'm sure the Bonyun family would appreciate knowing how many people are planning to attend. You can post your intentions here or e-mail Archie Bonyun directly at:

[e-mail]
882-6645
51 Bonyun Rd Westport, Maine 04578

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Sep 01 - 10:02 AM

Refresh!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Sep 01 - 08:18 PM

Here are some of the music community folks who have confirmed that they'll be attending Bill's memorial service:

Gordon Bok
Brett Burnham Marie Dufresne
Fred Gosbee and Julia Lane
Charlie Ipcar
Dick Swain and Nancy Matilla
Jeff and Gerret Warner

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,Tony Saletan
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 06:28 PM

Anyone traveling to the memorial service for Bill Bonyun from the Boston area? I'm having some car trouble, and looking for a ride or company to share the trouble!

Thanks,

Tony Saletan Phone: [phone] Bow St. Lexington, MA 02420

email: [e-mail]

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: kendall
Date: 15 Sep 01 - 10:46 PM

Add my name, and Chuck Romanoff to the list.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 09:14 AM

Please, will someone in the Boston area respond to Tony's appeal for transportation assistance.

Subject: Bill Bonyun Mem - Ride Needed fr Boston
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 10:53 AM

Refresh
I hope Tony found a ride and just hasn't been back to tell us.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 07:51 PM

Jeri and gang -

Tony Saletan managed to coax his anchient vehicle up to the Chocolate Church in time for the service.

I think Bill would be very pleased with the turnout of old friends, relations, musicians, generations of each. Some of us made enough noise so I'm sure he must have heard us. I know he was there when I was doing what I described as "a passing of the torch" song - "Get Up, Jack, John, Sit Down." Gordon Bok was requested by the family to sing "Mrs. MacDonald's Lament." Ann Dodson led "Peaceful." Dick Swain and Nancy Matilla sand "Crossing the Bar." Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee sang "Good Fish Chowder." Jeff and Gerret Warner led us in "Bony's Come and Gone" and "Rolling Home." I forget who did "The Master of the Sheepfold" but it was Bill's grandaughter who led us in "Ten Thousand Welcomes." There were stories about Bill and more songs after refreshments. I was delighted to see people there I hadn't sung with for 30 years or more.

I usually have mixed feelings about memorial services but this time I really felt that people had told or showed Bill how much they loved and appreciated him while he was still alive. So many foster daughters and sons there. Bill, you sure did well!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 05:54 PM

When I am gone and my friends gather I hope they will do a memorial like this one. Everyone gathered and shared their memories and songs and laughed and cried and wallowed in the good feeling and communal spirit of the man and his life. I saw elderly men and women who had been his longest friends and young kids who had learned at his knee. I heard the story of the bees (Charley, you have to include that here) and the story of his cow's trip from Maine to Long Island.

I even was allowed, and welcomed, to say a brief piece and sing a song. It was a shanty and the gathered friends and family gave a rousing support on the chorus and refrain lines.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 06:20 PM

Charley, thanks for telling us about the service, and the fact Tony made it. I don't know why, but it bothered me a lot that he might not get there.

I never had heard of Bill Bonyon before his passing, although I'd heard the songs he'd collected. I've heard Master Of The Sheepfold on Art's record and a few times by Jerry Epstein, and I haven't managed to EVER get through the whole song without a tear or two.

Somebody please tell us about other folks like Bill before they're gone.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:12 PM

That sounds like a whole thread right there, Jeri. Care to start it up?

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:15 PM

Jeri - you're right. It's always better to tell people we appreciate what they're doing and we love them while they're still around. Most of us were able to do that with Bill. And I was able to introduce a lot of my singing friends to Bill over the years. I need to contact whoever has his master recordings and made sure they're re-issued as CD's.

About three years ago I also made a major focused effort to organize a trip for him to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, where he's been back in the 1930's and in typical Bill fashion talked his way onto a fishing schooner, got himself signed on as an overaged cabin boy. He took some remarkable photographs of people fishing on the Grand Banks, and I was able to make arrangements with the fisheries museum there to receive a set of negatives; they had few photographs of people working on the schooners. They put us up at a local motel, arranged an interview with the local paper and Bill lighted up with his wonderful stories. We also tracked down some of the teenagers he'd met back then, and true to form they had not forgotten him either. We both overslept the next morning and made record time back to Yarmouth in less than an hour flat to catch the ferry back to Maine.

We'll tell the story about Bill and the honey bees another time.;-)

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 09:20 PM

Oh, Jeri, Bill got the "Massa of the Sheepfold" from my mother who got it from one of our summer visitors Wendy Holt, back in the 1940's. Art Thieme has posted some excellent notes on the song, and I've also found it in a 19th century collection of poems entitled "Heartrobs." I didn't dare try to sing it at the memorial service, or the "Ten Thousand Welcomes."

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Sep 01 - 10:56 PM

I learned it from Jerry Epstein at Pinewoods Camp near Plymouth, Massachusetts. I was told the song was brought there by Susan Richardson years earlier.

Art

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 02:29 AM

Charley, I have that book somewhere in a box in the basement. I may have overlooked the poem because of the dialect - I wasn't nuts about it even as a kid. In any case, written words can never quite manage the impact they can have when combined with a good tune.

Here are the lyrics, and here's a post by Joe Offer including the notes on the song from Jerry's CD. If I string all the "gots" together, it sounds like Art got it from Jerry, who got it from Sue, who got it from Bill, who collected it "in Maine" from Charley's mother who got it from Wendy Holt.

I would like to know about Bill's songs, and what he accomplished in his life. From what I've heard so far, though, Bill Bonyan may have been his greatest accomplishment.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,Paul Lynn
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 08:22 AM

Woodstock, CT Re: Master of the Sheepfold

First met Bill Bonyun on August 6, 1957 on the green at Old Sturbridge Village. (As with everyone else)we became immediate and good friends.

In September, 1959, late (very late) one night, Bill turned on his studio Ampex and recorded Master of the Sheepfold and Get Up Jack, John Sit Down and gave me the tape (which I played a number of times on my folk music radio show at Earlham College). I have the 7" real-to-real tape somewhere in the attic (must look for it) and hope it hasn't "overprinted" or deteriorated. When I find it, and if transcribable, will make both songs available.

The Service on the 16th was just right, thanks to everyone.

Tony- hope you got home safely!!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 05:18 PM

Good work, Paul!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 09:07 AM

Refreshing this thread for Max...;-)

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Sep 01 - 12:06 PM

Well, we'll try that again.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,connie canfield
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 12:47 PM

just found this. knew bill and gene in summer of '71 and were the gracious recipients of their generous offer to camp on their westport island land all summer. many cups were raised and songs sung!! magic guy!

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Sep 06 - 05:46 PM

Connie-

Absolutely the best!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: GUEST,Richard Majestic
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 04:47 PM

I met Bill and Gene Bonyun when I was 12, 1952; Bill the unstoppable teacher was directing a group of us kids in the art of radio (audio) theater. It was summer program that Betty Puleston would run on her ranch down Meadow Lane in Brookhaven New York. Bill had a used Magnecorder reel-to-reel recorder and a single microphone. Bill had written the script, and we were all assigned speaking parts and we rehearsed our lines diligently. After a month we went into the radio studios of Columbia University in New York City. They had lots of RCA ribbon microphones, sound effect stuff and a library of recorded sound effects and a big studio. After a few trips to NYC I found my way into the control room and a Colombia student showed me how to run the old tube mixer. That stared my career as a sound engineer. Back in Brookhaven in Bill and Gene's house I helped Bill setup recording sessions, fixed and upgraded his high fidelity system and learned from Bill. Bill would call me to over after school and weekends to help him record his friends, one was Burl Ives and many more wonderful people who would come to Bill's for conversation and to sing. Some of those visitor sessions ended up on Bill's recordings later.

While I was in high school I became Bill's studio engineer mixing his folk singing recordings. This was in the mid-late fifties. Bill moved into an empty general store and old Post Office on South Country Road in Brookhaven NY. My folk singer friend and mentor Bill Bunyan started out with two RCA something's microphones, a worn Webcor reel-to-reel recorder. Later the year I graduated 1958, Bill bought two Beyer ribbons mics and one Capps ¾" condenser, for vocals, guitar, fiddle, and drums. He got a donation of a old monaural tube mixer that I converted to two channel for stereo recordings. The Capps mic was too clean for vocals but was the best for drum snares and tom-toms, but those Beyer ribbons were just great and they still worked after being dropped. Bill and I did a collection of field recordings with a rented Nagra reel-to-reel monaural recorder and the ribbon mics.

Bill and I recorded the cannon blast for the Revolution record on the Nagra at West Point, while the drum and fife was recorded on that same Nagra with the Beyer ribbon as the band marched past Bill's studio on Memorial Day in Brookhaven NY, the echo on the most recorded singing and narrations was from our rented Ampex 351 playback head at 15 ips into a speaker in the long back store room behind the studio with the sound picked up with a junk Shure dynamic mic. This was the latest in 1950s technology but served Bill well. Most of those sailing ship sounds on the whaling record were made on Bill's friend Bob Stark's 36' wood sail boat early one Saturday morning on Bellport Bay also using the Nagra and the Beyer ribbon.

In the early sixties Bill started the Civil War recordings and he would do a lot of these cuts by himself at night; I would align the Ampex, check the tube mixer and leave everything on. In the afternoon the next day I would come in read Bill's notes and splice edit anything he or I thought was good enough to save. I don't remember how Bill got involved with the Civil War production company for PBS but much of the film editing and sound recording took place at Bill's studios in Brookhaven. That PBS program was a huge success and made better by Bill's genius and his vocals. Even today PBS will run that series even though it was shot on 16mm and had monaural sound.

Bill and Gene continued to be our friend and teacher even when he moved north to become the a curator and teacher at Old Sturbridge. Anyone who knew Bill Bonyun was blessed as I was.
Richard Majestic

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 07:34 PM

Beautifully written, Richard. Please, look around and share any more memories you may have of NYC in the 50s and the "characters" you've met. Membership is free but feel free to remain a GUEST.
Mary

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Mar 07 - 08:52 PM

Richard-

Nicely described and a wonderful tribute to Bill and Gene.

You will be interested to know that Alison Freeman and myself have started an endowment fund, called The Bonyun Sea Music Endowment in honor of both Bill and Gene Bonyun, at the Maine Maritime Museum to enhance sea music programs there. Income from the endowment shall be used for:

Sea music concerts, events, or festivals

Music based educational programs

Preservation or acquisition of historical recordings of sea music

Preervation or acquisition pf mritime sheet music or books of sea music

Other may be interested as well.

Contributions for this endowment should bemailed to:

Maine Maritime Museum,
Attn: Amy Lent, Director
243 Washington St.
Bath, ME 04530

Or PM me for more details.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Jul 07 - 09:39 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 12:08 AM

Nice to see this thread again.
Art

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 08:20 AM

I was thinking about Bill when Joe Theriault died. The old guys are the great ones. Everyone should make a point to sit and talk with an old person every once in a while. They have some interesting and important things to say.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 11:49 AM

So, Brett, what do you have to say?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 12:55 PM

I missed this thread the first time around, probably because in 2001 I was busy missing Bill so much, I didn't spend much time browsing.

Bill Bonyun was my mentor. I met him at a fortunate time – I was 12 years old, just like one of the posters above.

It was Christmas season 1949. Pearl Buck was holding a Christmas gala at her fixed-over barn in Perkasie, PA. I lived nearby. There was word a guy was going to be at the party, singing folk songs.

I was immediately excited and curious, because those were the sorts of songs I was already liking best. Over the past year I'd heard a few Burl Ives recordings, listened to my grandfather's album of Carl Sandburg, and started fooling around on my father's college ukulele. Recently I'd pestered my parents into getting me a guitar. It was a steel-strung Harmony. I was struggling with it.

So I was in the small audience when a burly man opened his guitar case and took out a guitar, casually strolled up on stage and sang a dozen or so wonderful songs. One he did that night was his own "Oom-Paul Bonyun" about his recently born son Paul. But m0st of all I'll never forget his cheerfully mad rendition of

There were thr-r-r-r-r-eeeee craws,
Settin' on a wa' …

It was the first of many songs he taught me. Afterward, all starry eyes, I had to go up and shake his hand.

Bill was instantly a friend – something I hadn't even imagined could happen. He generously came over to my house the next day and spent the afternoon inspiring me. He drew me a chord chart (wish I still had it!), showed me strums, told me anecdotes of a friend who'd inspired him named Richard Dyer-Bennett, and tales galore of other folk singers in New York that made folksinging as a livelihood seem attainable. He at once advised me to re-string my guitar with nylon as he and Dick did.

He was patient, kindly, endlessly helpful, cheerful and delightful to be around. He and Tom Glazer, a Philadelphia singer, did a joint concert at my Quaker grade school the next day. Even after he went back to New York he sent me letters full of encouragement.

For years I knew no more of Bill than that. Then in 1968, wonder of wonders, I found my parents-in-law in Wiscasset, Maine, knew this person down on Westport Island who sang folk songs. It proved to be Bill Bonyun! "Sure, we'll invite him over," they said.

So on a memorable evening I met the hero of my childhood once again. And for the first time I met Gene. Friendship all over again. It lasted the rest of her, and his, lives.

Wouldn't you know it, Bill, out of the goodness of his heart, at once interested himself, unfazed and unasked, in my music and my prospects. After years of performing only traditional songs, I was just then trying my wings at contemporary songwriting. Bill was again endlessly helpful. He taped my songs, put me in touch with singer-promoter Manny Greenhill, did everything in his power to advance my shaky steps in that direction. It eventually led to Boston concerts and to my being briefly a federal employee, singing for the Treasure Hunt program that brought singers, dancers, actors and others in the arts to the rural schools of Maine, many of them bleak and regimented, letting kids know there was a wider and more entertaining world out there, things ordinary people could do, even they could do, not just figures on a stage or on TV.

I'm sure dozens if not hundreds of young singers could tell you the same. Bill encouraged the world to sing and play, and showed how you could do it with a bouyant spirit like none I've ever known.

But great as his helping me was, that isn't what I now remember most vividly. Best of all were the parties and visits at Bill's saltwater farmhouse, and his visits to my in-laws'. Of course we spent lots of time singing, but he also brought a wealth of talk, laughter, kindliness and fellowship of a kind only Bill could create.

He was an extraordinary personality. No matter what gloom might threaten elsewhere, Bill knew, and practiced, the secret of joy. He spread it around to everyone – the kids up and down the East Coast who were his best audiences, the tourists at Sturbridge, the endless audiences who learned from Bill just how to be happy with a simple song.

He had that secret: enthusiastic happiness with simplicity. I can't forget the time, aged sixty or better, he'd just gotten his cutaway Martin 12-string guitar, and was like a kid at Christmas, showing it off. Good things happened around Bill. He taught us all what "blithe" meant.

Gee, I miss him. I dunno about any afterlife, but somehow I can't help feeling that we'll meet him further along the road somewhere. Maybe it's just that, for me, he never quite left.

Bob

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 01:15 PM

Bob-

I was really hoping that you'd post to this thread. I'm pleased that you were hooked this time around!

I believe you were also at Bill's salt water farm to help celebrate his 80th birthday.

And we'll surely meet Bill and Gene again, some day on that furthest shore. What a time we'll have!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Franz S.
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 03:48 PM

Charley introduced me to Bill I believe in April 1963 on Long Island. Charley told me to sing Bill a song I'd learned from a friend in NC, "Simple Boy". So Bill took us down to his studio and recorded it. Only time I've ever been recorded to my knowledge.

And my fiancee and I were guests at a baked bean dinner at the farmhouse in Maine a year or so later.

Good times, great man.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:53 PM

Charley! Are you insinuating that I am old? If memory serves, you've got ten years on me. So, tell me about those old days when you hunted dinosaurs with clubs.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:51 PM

Really, Brett, back in the Pleistocene there were no dinosaurs, but there was some great work songs. There was one we used for helping haul the mastodons home after a successful hunt. Well, maybe you had to be there to appreciate it.

You were about ten years younger than me when you left Maine. But I expect, reviewing your threads, that you've aged faster than I have!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 07:47 AM

I can almost hear the bearded, whiskery voices bawling:

Way, haul away,
We'll haul away the masto-don,
Way, haul away,
We'll haul away, Og. [son of Fire]

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 07:57 AM

LOL

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: maeve
Date: 22 Jul 07 - 07:18 AM

Charley, was Bill also the host for a folk music/American history show that was broadcast out of the Boston area around 1968? Our fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Cross, used it as part of our classwork. I remember feeling shocked that a teacher would use a tv show in the first place (we didn't have a tv at home then) then transfixed as I realized that show was the best part of the year for me! I've been trying to discover the name of the host for years as his program really showed me I wasn't weird for liking the old songs!

maeve

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Jul 07 - 07:56 PM

Maeve-

Unlikely but Bill had a network of schools he performed at from the NYC area to Northern New England. He might have been interviewed and sung at a Bosten area radio station but he wouldn't have hosted a regular show.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Reed Ide
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 12:47 PM

Idling away some time on Google, I entered Bill's name and came to this thread. I remember Bill from my childhood visits to Old Sturbridge Village. Later, as a teen I got to spend more time with him when I worked there during summers. Real treats were the very rare occassions when he and Tony Scott were both singing on the green. Tony would later serve the vital role of draft counselor to me. In 1969 a friend and I spent a delightful weekend with Bill and Gene at their Maine island home. A pure delight. Time passed and, alas, distanced my from those days and the people I knew. It has been heartwarming to read these messages.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 05:12 PM

Reed-

Be sure to alert me if you're ever considering a week in Maine.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Reed Ide
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 04:52 PM

Thanks Charley ! Was just up that way last week. Will go up again next summer.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 10:46 PM

Reed-

Great!

We lived 15 minutes by water from the Bonyuns, on Georgetown Island, but 45 minutes by road.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Genia Bonyun
Date: 10 May 08 - 11:52 PM

Well, Google certainly can turn up treasure from time to time!

I'm the aforementioned granddaughter, who led The Thousand Welcomes at Bill's celebration of life. I can't tell you how incredibly wonderful it has been to sit here for the past hour and read these words. Really, I can't describe the feeling, discovering all of you and your love and admiration for my Pops, our Bill Bonyun. I'm glad to know that his legacy lives on in the hearts of his many, many friends.

I'm landlocked now and far from my family of origin, but still take out Gene's old autoharp and pass the songs on to my little daughter. She never got to meet Pops, but she loves good music, tells a great story and has never met a stranger . . . further proof that his spirit lives on.

Thank you all for remembering.

Genia Metry-Bonyun

I'd love to hear from any of Pops' old friends. Please feel free to get in touch. bustedcrayons at hotmail dot com

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 May 08 - 09:07 AM

Genia-

Pleased to see you post here! I haven't seen you since 2001.

If you are in Maine this summer you may want to attend one of the Bill and Gene Bonyun benefit concerts that Alison Freeman and myself are coordinating at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. All concerts takeplace on Sundays, 7:30 pm, and the relevant dates are June 22 (Bob Zentz/Alison Freeman & Charlie Ipcar), July 20 (Bob Webb & Dave Peloquin), and August 17 (Roll & Go/Castlebay). All of these concerts will feature songs of the sea.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 May 08 - 09:05 PM

Somewhere above I mentioned this story:

"We'll tell the story about Bill and the honey bees another time.;-)"

The fun thing was that when I told that story (the version I remembered) old Bob Ince piped up "And I was in that car with Bill!"

Well, the story goes that Bill had heard of an old beekeeper who was going out of business about an hour away from his farm on Westport Island, in the Town of Westbrook. So Bill and his one of his old Long Island neighbors, Bob Ince who had dropped in for a visit, decided to drive over and see if they could pick up a few hives at a bargain price. Well, they got a great deal on the hives and accessories, battened everything down in the back, and went on their merry way homeward.

Somewhere outside of Portland they began to notice a bee or two buzzing around the car and while Bob tried to shoo them away Bill stepped on the gas pedal. One of them got the brilliant idea of putting on the beekeepers helmets that they had also purchased, which made them feel safer. However, they soon were distracted by a siren coming up behind, and flashing lights from a police car, so they dutifully pulled over to the curb.

The policeman strolled up to the car and demanded that they roll down the window so he could get Bill's driver's license and registration. They tried to explain to the officer that there was a problem with that but eventually they rolled down the window and a stream of bees issued forth. They were somewhat gratified to hear the officer shout "Get the Hell out of here!" as he ran back to his patrol car. Bill and his friends eventually made it back to Westport and the bees lived there happily ever after.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Guest - Genia Bonyun
Date: 21 May 08 - 12:38 AM

I've loved that story since I was a little girl, and I love the differing versions, depending on who's doing the telling! Thanks for the invite, Charlie. I won't be getting back to Maine for a few years, but when I do I'll be sure to look you up!

Genia

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: woodyguth3
Date: 26 Nov 08 - 10:55 PM

Hello friends,
I have been lurking on this thread for some time. Finally chiming in.

Thank you for such a warm recollection of one of the most remarkable men I have known, and someone who was quite important in my life too. I was "scooped up" by Bill in 1974 at a folk festival in Pennsylvania. I spent some memorable times at his farm on Westport Island. Even recall getting fleas from the shagg rug, since that was where I slept when I wasn't in a tent outside. (grin) Numerous times I booked Bill and Gene as artists in residence at the school where I teach. Bill was one of my thesis advisors, a true mentor.

One memorable week I asked Bill if he needed some help around the house. Ask Archie, Steve or Paul and they'd tell you there was always something important that needed to be done. So I was surprised when Bill said, "I'd like to try and get the 'Sea Change' in the water." The 'Sea Change' was his rather shaky sailboat. It looked like the only water it had seen in years was the water it caught inside the hull while sitting otherwise dry at the edge of his back yard. I am more of a farm boy than a sailor. I had never sailed at all before that week. But I was game, and after some convincing, the 'Sea Change' was afloat with sail flapping. Throwing caution to the wind, we headed out through hellgate and were rewarded with a "splendid passage". Leaks demanded we return after an hour or so, but not until we were rewarded by the accompaniment of what appeared to this farmer to be several porpoise. A wonderful time I will recall until the day I meet Bill again.

This may sound a little self-serving, but it is suggested in respect. I have recently commented about Bill in my blog, including a song I wrote that parodies "A Fitting Out", one of Bill's thousands of songs. You can view this entry at:
TomSmithMusic.com

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving holidy, hopefully filled with music and family.

- Tom Smith

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 09:02 AM

Tom-

Thanks for chiming in!

I remember Bill's rickety sailboat "Sea Change" quite well, and you were indeed fortunate that something important didn't let loose as you were scudding through the Hell Gates. But Bill did live a charmed life. Your story does bring a smile to my face.

Here's a verse of my own (from "Pastures of Memories")that could be dedicated to Bill, Gene, and the rest of us:

Waves of time drift slowly by,
Now I'm sailing with the tide,
Through misty islands in the morn,
I keep a sharp lookout.
But that pirate ship of yesterday,
Now she lies beneath the waves,
Her timbers buried in the mud,
Where can her captain be?

Now, our time is drawing near,
The farthest shore is becoming clear;
So trim the sail, make fast the sheet,
We've old friends we'd like to meet;
They'll welcome us upon the shore,
And join us in this song.

Pastures of memories,
Sifting through life's mysteries,
Golden cows and butterflies,
All on a summer's day

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 02:45 PM

refresh for another old friend who was wondering if Bill and Gerne ever recorded "Massa of the Sheepfold." I can't find my own recording of Yankee Legend, where it might be. Anyone know for sure?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 03:18 PM

Nope, "The Massa of the Sheepfold" is not on Yankee Legend, according to a screenshot of the album on Amazon.com. I guess Bill and Gene never formally recorded it. Maybe we requested they sing it so many times that they didn't think a recording was necessary.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 09:16 PM

A list of HEIRLOOM Records with track listings is here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20120305204354/http://www.thecclc.org/heirloom_records/index.html


Currently, 4 of the albums are available on CD (CD-r ??) here:

https://www.cclc.me/store/categories/27/heirloom-records

Best wishes, Thomas.

Subject: RE: OBIT: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 23 Apr 13 - 09:29 PM

PS: also note the mudcat thread Origins: Master of the Sheepfold

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=10649

Best wishes, Thomas.

Subject: RE: Obit: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST,Gary Richardson
Date: 23 Feb 14 - 02:06 PM

Sitting here at my home a half mile from the Bonyun farmhouse where I spent many an interesting day and evening as a young lad in the company of the Bonyun family and their ever present guests. While settling into my daily routine of trying to self learn guitar, it occurred to me that perhaps some of Bill's music might be lurking on the web. A quick search led me to Tom Smith's page where, to my delight, I was able to listen to the wonderful sound of Bill and Gene performing "Jenney Jenkins" and this site. I remember watching them sing this very song in front of their living room fireplace and it brought me back in time to a great place.

I can see from the posts that I have read that Bill has touched many lives and I can be counted among those that miss his presence. I only wish I could have had musical aspirations as a child so that I might have absorbed a piece of his magic to carry on for future generations.

Subject: RE: Obit: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (Aug 2001)
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Dec 20 - 10:51 PM

Growing up in Brookhaven LI NY & experiencing the amazing and diverse neighbors such as the Puleston family who introduced me to the Bonyuns. OR Burnett Lane, rook haven home. A very important experience.

Subject: RE: Obit: Fare thee well Bill Bonyun (1911-2001)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Dec 20 - 11:26 AM

The Bonyuns will not be forgotten soon.

Cheerily,
Charlie Ipcar