Public Service is a high calling
Edward M. Bonney, 88, of Freeport, Maine passed away in the loving care of the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough, Maine on September 12th, 2021, after a short illness.
Ed was born on April 5, 1933, in Buckfield, Maine to Mason Turner Bonney and Beatrice Evelyn Dean Bonney. He attended school in Buckfield until his parents moved to Lisbon Falls, Maine shortly after the start of World War II. Before the end of the war his parents moved to Durham, Maine and then to Winthrop, Maine. In 1947 his family moved to Freeport, Maine where he started high school. In the summers while in high school he worked, like many of his classmates, in the shoe factories in Freeport; the Davis and Edmar Shoe factories, to be exact.
He graduated from Freeport High School in 1951 and then attended Emerson College in Boston until enlisting in the United States Air Force during the Korean Conflict. While in the Air Force he took courses at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. In the Air Force he was an Air Operations Specialist and spent most of his enlistment in Base Operations at Perrin AFB in Sherman, Texas.
After being honorable discharged from the Air Force in 1956, he returned to Freeport and worked at the Freeport Lace Company for a short time and later operated two dance halls: Blackstone’s Pavilion in North Yarmouth, Maine and the South Freeport Community Hall in South Freeport, Maine.
In late 1957 he had an opportunity, as many recent Air Force and Navy Air Operation and Air Traffic Control Specialist veterans did, to be hired by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Air Traffic Control was being expanded greatly at this time in response to the tragic collision of two airliners over Arizona. He attended the CAA Air Traffic Control School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for several weeks. After graduation he was assigned to the New York Air Traffic Control Center which at that time was located in Hanger 11 on Rockaway Boulevard at Idlewild Airport which is now John F. Kennedy International Airport. He worked at the Center for three years before returning to Freeport.
On August 22, 1957 he married the love of his life Betty Joyce Smith and they were married 49 years until she died in 2006. They and their sons Kerry and Ed, Jr. lived in South Ozone Park in Queens, New York while Ed was an air traffic controller. In 1960, he and Betty decided that they would like the boys to be brought up in Maine and returned to Freeport, Maine where they had grownup. Their son Brian was born in 1961.
After returning to Freeport he worked at the W. T. Grant Store #10 on Congress Street in Portland. He worked in the Men’s Clothing and Hardware Departments until being promoted to manager of the Furniture Department. While at Grant’s he was a member and Chairman of the Store Council. Ed worked at the Grant store until 1965 when he was appointed to be the Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party. He held this position until 1973 when he was appointed as the Executive Director of the Maine State Bar Association, a position he held until his retirement in 1998.
He always marveled at his good fortune in life and how public service became so much a part of it.
Shortly after returning to Freeport he and Betty became interested in John F. Kennedy’s campaign for President. Both he and his wife were impressed with Senator Kennedy and were inspired by his vision for the country and decided to become involved in the Democratic Party and to do whatever they could do to insure his election. That decision launched decades of political activism and public service. He and his wife took seriously the request of President Kennedy, in his inaugural speech, when he invited his fellow Americans to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Ed and Betty were proud to have answered that call.
He was committed to the Democratic Party and its ideals. Ed called himself a “Roosevelt Democrat”. He recalled during his childhood his grandparents and parents struggles during the “Great Depression” and the good things President Roosevelt did to help them and other Americans.
He became a member of the Freeport Democratic Town Committee in 1960 and was its Chair from 1963 through 1966. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the State Senate in 1962. He was a member of the Cumberland County Democratic Committee for several years and served as its Chairman in 1966 and1967. During Ken Curtis’ campaign for Governor in 1965 he was his Co-Coordinator for the First Congressional District campaign. Ed was the Executive Director of the Maine Democratic State Committee during the 8 years that Governor Curtis was in office.
While Executive Director of the Maine Democratic State Committee, he had the privilege of working with two State Chairmen, George Mitchell and Severin Beliveau. Ed was in charge of arrangements for the Maine delegations to the Democratic Conventions in Chicago, Illinois in 1968 and Miami, Florida in 1972. At one of the many demonstrations during the Chicago Convention he and his wife experienced being tear gassed. He had an opportunity after the convention to work on Humphrey/Muskie Presidential campaign.
Ed was active in Freeport in a variety of civic endeavors during the 1960’s, among them was serving as a Director and President of the Freeport Jaycees, a member of the Board of Directors of the Freeport Community Combination Blood Bank, a member and Chairman of the Freeport Budget Committee, and a member of two School Administrative Study Committees. During this time he also was elected to the Freeport Superintending School Committee for a three year term and served as its Chairman for one year.
During the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s he grew professionally and pursued many public endeavors. While Executive Director of the Maine State Bar Association he assisted the Board of Governors in building its financial base and expanding and creating new programs for the lawyers and judges in Maine. He was very proud of the expansion of the Continuing Legal Education program and watching it grow from an annual real estate seminar to one that now offers multiple programs covering all of the legal specialties.
Ed was active in the National Association of Bar Executives during his tenure at the Maine State Bar Association. He was elected by his peers to all offices on the Executive Committee, the governing body of the Association, and was honored by the membership in being elected President of the Association for 1990-1991. He is only the second person from New England to ever be elected to this national position. He was honored by the Association by being selected to receive the Bolton Award for Professional Excellence in 1993. This is the highest award that the National Association of Bar Executives gives.
In the early 1970’s he was asked by selectmen in Freeport to chair a committee that would study other forms of municipal governments in Maine and make a recommendation on whether or not a Charter Commission should be formed. At this time there was concern on the part of many citizens that Freeport had grown to the point that Town Meetings no longer served the best interests of the community.
The Government Study Committee, composed of a cross section of citizens, spent a year reviewing the many types of municipal governments used in Maine and recommended to the Selectmen that a Charter Commission be formed. The Commission was formed, and Ed was elected to serve as its Chair. The Commission spent a year focusing on what form of local government they thought would be best for Freeport and settled on a Town Council composed of four districts and three at–large councilors with full legislative and budget powers and a full time professional manager. Their recommendation and a proposed Charter were approved by the voters in 1972 and in 1973, the first Freeport Town Council was seated.
Ed was elected to serve on the first Freeport Town Council and was elected two more times during the 1970’s and 1980’s to the Town Council. He served three times as Council Chair. Between terms on the Town Council, he served on the Land Use Study Committee, the Freeport Planning Board, the Design Review Committee, the Public Safety/Public Works Study Committee and the Building Committee for the new Public Safety and Public Works Buildings. He also served as a Freeport Water District Trustee for 2 terms. In the 1990’s and 2000’s he chaired the Train Committee that worked to bring Amtrak’s Downeaster service to Freeport.
He was also a member of the Cable TV Regulatory Committee for many years. For more than 20 years he hosted two Freeport Cable Access TV programs. The first was “Freeport Perspectives” with co-host Bob Harnett and later, “Conversations with Ed Bonney”. He was very proud of the four-program series of conversations with World War II veterans. Ed served as a member of the Maine Public Broadcasting’s Community Advisory Board from 1996 - 2003.
For many years Ed was a Freeport Election Official and served in many capacities from election clerk to Warden and Deputy Warden of the Polls. He was a familiar figure to Freeport voters for many years.
While serving Freeport he also served Cumberland County. He served for 9 years as a Trustee of the Cumberland County Civic Center and for 8 of those years he served as its Treasurer. During this time the Cumberland County Commissioners appointed him to the County Government Study Committee and later to the Cumberland County Correctional Facility Study Committee. When the Committee’s work was done, the commissioners appointed him to the Building Committee for the new Cumberland County Correctional Facility. He also represented Freeport on the Greater Portland Council of Governments and served as COG’s first Treasurer.
Ed was instrumental, along with interested Freeport citizens, L. L. Bean and other businesses, in establishing the Freeport Merchants Association. He was a member of the Freeport Townscape Committee and helped raised funds for a study to determine how Freeport could reinvent itself to compensate for the loss of the many shoe shops that had closed. This effort helped create the thriving retail presence Freeport has today. In the 1980’s he brought together 50 Freeport citizens and businesses and formed the Freeport Economic Development Corporation. He served for several years as its President. One of the Corporation’s first projects was to have the Town Council establish an Industrial Zone on the Desert Road. Once this was done, the Corporation optioned substantial acreage on the Desert Road. The site is presently occupied by the L. L. Bean Distribution and Returns facilities and the Fogg Farm that is used for some of L. L. Bean’s Discovery Programs.
Ed helped to found the Greater Freeport Chamber of Commerce and served as its first President. He was honored by the Chamber in 2013 by creating the Edward M. Bonney Community Contribution Award. He was the first recipient. The award is given annually to a member of the community who has made a significant contribution of time and energy for the betterment of Freeport.
In 2000 the received the Freeport Citizen of the Year Award. Over the years he received many recognitions, among them were The Mel Collins Award from the Freeport Historical Society, and recognition awards from the Freeport Merchants Association, and Freeport USA.
Ed’s son, Kerry, recalls the family trips to the New York World’s Fair and Expo 67 in Montreal, Canada and the enjoyment that his dad had in making sure whenever they went to an amusement park such as Disney World that everyone rode every ride, no matter how high or scary such as the Tower of Terror at Disney World. Kerry also recalled his father and mother’s many trips to Hawaii and their favorite island, Maui. They traveled extensively in the Caribbean and spent parts of each winter in Key West, Florida and Tucson, Arizona.
Son Ed, Jr. remembers his parents many trips to visit him in California and how much his father enjoyed Southern California and all the things to do. Ed said his father and mother never ceased to be amazed at the Freeways and the amount of traffic. He recalls a wonderful boat trip to Catalina with his dad and the tour bus breaking down and rolling backward on a steep hill on the island. Not funny at the time but it served for many good laughs afterwards.
Ed’s son Brian remembers his folks annual Eggnog Parties and their many friends who frequently visited their home for Saturday parties. He also recalls how much his father and mother enjoyed spending weekends in the summer on the family boat “The Wanderer” and their many friends at South Freeport Marine where they had a slip. Brian said his dad in recent years always made sure that he and other members of the family had tickets to the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Magic of Christmas show.
After retirement from the Bar Association in 1998 Ed and his wife Betty did a lot of traveling with lengthy visits to England, Ireland, Scotland and Australia and New Zealand. Ed and his wife wrote a book entitled “Betty & Ed Bonney’s Great Australian Adventure” after their trip to Australia.
Ed was not one to stay idle in retirement and worked at many part time jobs as he was fond of saying “to keep me busy.” Among his many jobs were stints as a front desk clerk at the Comfort Suites, hosting tea at The Harraseeket Inn and later as the Host at the Inn’s Maine Dining Room. He worked in the L. L. Bean Retail Store as a Visa Card Salesperson and filled in on occasion at the store’s Information Desk. When Amtrak Downeaster train service started in Freeport he managed the Freeport Train and Information Center for the Town of Freeport. He managed this station until his death.
He served on the Capital Campaign Committee that raised funds to build the Freeport Community Center. He was very proud of the Center and all the great services that it provides for Freeport and Pownal.
Ed was predeceased by his parents and his wife Betty.
He is survived by his sons Kerry and his wife Lisa, Ed, Jr. and his wife Jelyn and Brian and his wife, Cheryl. Grandchildren, Samantha, Patrick, Sarah, Christopher, Michael, Dusty, Shawn, Heartzel, Harold, and Harleith. Great Grandchildren Jayla, Brayden, Jasmine, John Patrick, Joshua, Dillon, Harper and Alexa. He is also survived by his sister Shirley Hunnewell and niece Joan Hunnewell and his cousins Robert Bonney and Marilyn Plissey.
A memorial service will be held in the spring of 2022.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Ed’s name to Freeport Community Services or a charity of your choice.
The family would like to recognize the incredible doctors, nurses and staff at Maine Medical Center and the Gosnell House for their dedication, competence and compassion; you comforted us while caring for our Dad and we humbly thank you.
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