FEATURES
Kappas keep memories of Edie Bonner with first 'Spirit Award'
Laura Nation-Atchison
06-12-2008
It was during their State Spring Luncheon they made the award that remembers her spirit and her love and the dedication she had.
She was one of their “Kappa sisters,” and in their words, one of the most devoted, most supportive and most encouraging members they had.
So, while gathered at the restaurant named Red’s Little Schoolhouse in Grady, Ala., the honor established by the Alpha Xi Conclave of Kappa Kappa Iota that they titled the Edith Adams Bonner Kappa Spirit Award, the honor was made for the first time.
Members of the educators’ sorority chose to make the award to one of Bonner’s closest friends, Gail Joiner of Talladega.
Joiner is currently national president for Kappa Kappa Iota, and recalls meeting Bonner as a young teacher at Zora Ellis School in Talladega, about 1972, when she started teaching.
Bonner died Sept. 1, 2007, after being diagnosed six months earlier with Non Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Beverly Pope, president for the local Alpha Xi Conclave, said no one expected that Bonner would die and especially so soon after being diagnosed.
She went ahead with plans to be part of the national convention last year, but soon afterward became more ill, Joiner said.
She was taking chemo treatments prior to the trip, but even so, Bonner and her husband Charles decided to go, Joiner said.
“No one loved Kappa more than Edie,” Joiner said. “No one supported us and our projects more than Edie. No one had more Kappa Spirit than Edie.”
In comments made during a memorial for Bonner, Joiner recalled some of the highlights of the long friendship the two had.
“Our memories are many and happy,” Joiner said. “The experiences we have shared and the trouble we have gotten into are so numerous and so valuable to each of us that they shall forever remain in our minds and hearts. Years ago, Mary Atchison named me ‘Lucy,’ and Edie, my ‘Ethel.’”
In her nomination for Joiner to receive the award, (then) state Kappa president Bonnie Shanks wrote, “Although I know Gail intends for someone else to be honored, there is no other person in this state who deserves the Spirit Award more. Gail and Edie were inseparable Kappa spirits.”
The Edith Adams Bonner Kappa Spirit Award will be made yearly now, during the annual Spring Luncheon.
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About Laura Atchison
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Laura Nation-Atchison is The Daily Home features editor.
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Contact Laura Atchison
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