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

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