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

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: 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: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Sep 01 - 10:02 AM

Refresh!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Aug 01 - 09:18 AM

Refreshed!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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