Local civil rights pioneer Dr. Mary Bonner has passed away at the age of 94.
Born in 1924 in North Carolina, she married Dr. Thomas Bonner in 1956. She graduated cum laude from St. Paul’s College with her bachelor’s degree before getting a masters from Virginia State and a doctorate from Oklahoma State. She also took post-doctoral studies at both the universities of Kansas and California.
Bonner became one of Emporia State University’s first black faculty members. Bonner’s name was on Emporia State’s signature lecture series, the Bonner and Bonner Diversity Lecture, along with her late husband when that started in 2002. She also established Emporia State’s first predominantly African-American sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho, in 1968. She received numerous awards from Emporia State, including the Ruth Schillinger Faculty Award for Outstanding Service to the Women of ESU, President’s Award for Leadership in Diversity and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Service Award.
Speaking of community service, Bonner helped with a sickle cell anemia discovery project for Emporia’s African-American community. She also was a reading mentor at Lowther South before it closed, and she served on both the city Human Relations Commission and the Lyon County Community Corrections Board.
Bonner is preceded in death by her husband, as well as her parents and sister.
Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be scheduled later, with internment already planned at Memorial Lawn Cemetery. Contributions can be made to the Emporia State Foundation for the Bonner-Bonner Mathematics Scholarship Fund or the Bonner-Bonner Diversity Lecture Series.
