| Sources |
- [S41] Ancestry.com, Genealogy Trees, http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/14778717/person/161611196?ssrc=.
- [S766] Marty Van Lith, Brookhaven, Brookhaven, Suffolk, NY, [e-mail for private use], to , e-mail, , ","; privately held [e-mail & address for private use]., Bill Bonyun; 31 March 2012.
I saw in this week's Advance 50 years ago that Bill Bonyun was mentioned. I used the search command on your website and his name didn't come up.
I've heard about him many times from old timers, he must have been quite a character. I don't know where he lived, I assume somewhere in the hamlet, but I do know that his Heirloom Records studio was upstairs in the Brook Store. I think Jen [telephone number ] was friends with Steve Bonyun, Bill's son, and may have gone to school with him.
- [S1478] "," Undated clipping, from unidentified newspaper; Private papers; privately held by Portland Press Herald, [address for private use], Protland, ME., William 'Bill' Bonyun, 90; Obituary; 18 August 2001; Photocopy, Portland Press Herald; 2012.
WESTPORT-- William "Bill" Bonyun, 90, a widely known educator and folk singer, died August 13, 2001. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., a son of Harry and Edith Lippencott Bonyun.
He attended Wesleyan University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During the 1930s, while working on a fishing schooner on the Grand Banks, he took photographs that are displayed in the fisheries museum in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
He moved to Georgetown, began writing, and was introduced to folk music by the Ipcar family.
He married Eugenia "Gene" Benedict in 1939 [incorrect]. In 1940 they bought a farm on Westport Island.
In 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. After World War II, the family moved to Brookhaven, Long Island, N.Y., and he earned a master's in education at Columbia University.
During the 1950s, he taught fifth grade and began using music and folklore as a way to teach history.
He ultimately left teaching and took to the road throughout New England. He would contact school officials, arrive in a classroom, ask what period of history was being taught and come up with many songs of the time.
He also established and directed the music department at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, and would spend summers singing on the village green.
In the late 1950s, he established his own recording studio, Heirloom Records, and, with his wife, produced several albums. During the 1960s, his territory expanded into schools in northern New England, and in 1965 he was able to move back to his farm on Westport Island. It was then that his wife joined him in singing in many schools and programs.
In 1969, they co-authored "Full Hold and Splendid Passage," a book that tells the story of America at sea from 1815 to 1860 through journals, recollections and songs.
He co-founded and directed Treasure Hunt, Maine's first arts-in-the-schools project, and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Arts, his family said.
In the 1980s, he established a conservation easement through the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, protecting 85 acres of family property on the Sasonna River.
In 1993, the Maine Alliance for Arts Education established a scholarship in recognition of his unique contribution to arts in education.
Surviving are three sons, Stephen of Bowdoinham and Archie and Paul of Westport; six grandchildren and two-great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, 798 Washington St., Bath. Arrangements are by Strong Funeral Home, Damariscotta.
His marriage date was incorrectly reported in the obituary.
- [S112] Social Security Death Index (U.S. Social Security Administration), SS# 129-28-6172.
Indicated 11 April 1911, not 15 April 1911 of other sources.
- [S763] National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
- [S1478] "," Undated clipping, from unidentified newspaper; Private papers; privately held by Portland Press Herald, [address for private use], Protland, ME., William 'Bill' Bonyun, 90; Obituary; 18 August 2001; Photocopy, Portland Press Herald; 2012.
- [S112] Social Security Death Index (U.S. Social Security Administration), SS# 129-28-6172.
- [S1478] "," Undated clipping, from unidentified newspaper; Private papers; privately held by Portland Press Herald, [address for private use], Protland, ME., William 'Bill' Bonyun, 90; Obituary; 18 August 2001; Photocopy, Portland Press Herald; 2012.
WESTPORT-- William "Bill" Bonyun, 90, a widely known educator and folk singer, died August 13, 2001. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., a son of Harry and Edith Lippencott Bonyun.
He attended Wesleyan University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During the 1930s, while working on a fishing schooner on the Grand Banks, he took photographs that are displayed in the fisheries museum in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
He moved to Georgetown, began writing, and was introduced to folk music by the Ipcar family.
He married Eugenia "Gene" Benedict in 1939. In 1940 they bought a farm on Westport Island.
In 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. After World War II, the family moved to Brookhaven, Long Island, N.Y., and he earned a master's in education at Columbia University.
During the 1950s, he taught fifth grade and began using music and folklore as a way to teach history.
He ultimately left teaching and took to the road throughout New England. He would contact school officials, arrive in a classroom, ask what period of history was being taught and come up with many songs of the time.
He also established and directed the music department at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, and would spend summers singing on the village green.
In the late 1950s, he established his own recording studio, Heirloom Records, and, with his wife, produced several albums. During the 1960s, his territory expanded into schools in northern New England, and in 1965 he was able to move back to his farm on Westport Island. It was then that his wife joined him in singing in many schools and programs.
In 1969, they co-authored "Full Hold and Splendid Passage," a book that tells the story of America at sea from 1815 to 1860 through journals, recollections and songs.
He co-founded and directed Treasure Hunt, Maine's first arts-in-the-schools project, and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Arts, his family said.
In the 1980s, he established a conservation easement through the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, protecting 85 acres of family property on the Sasonna River.
In 1993, the Maine Alliance for Arts Education established a scholarship in recognition of his unique contribution to arts in education.
Surviving are three sons, Stephen of Bowdoinham and Archie and Paul of Westport; six grandchildren and two-great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, 798 Washington St., Bath. Arrangements are by Strong Funeral Home, Damariscotta.
- [S115] Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington,, Census Place: Summit, Union, New Jersey; Roll: 1389; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 153; Image: 889.0; FHL microfilm: 2341124.
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 7 Mar 1941, p. 5.
Mrs. Eugenia Benedict of Little Rock, Ark., and William Bonyun, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Bonyun of Howell Point road, Bellport, and Summit, N.J., were married Wednesday night in the Bonyun home in Summit in the presence of the immediate families.
Mr. Bonyun is a writer and Mrs. Bonyun, better known here as Johanna Hill, was leading lady in Bellport's summer theatre. Since the summer she modelled for Bonwit Teller's advertising artist.
Mr. and Mrs. Bonyun will live in Robin Hood, Me., until the early summer, when they will be in Bellport.
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1911 - 2001 (90 years)
[4, 5, 6] 