I56: Columbus Mulgro BONNER (24 Nov 1892

Notes

Columbus grew up with the Brasher children and his mother Molly. He never really knew his father Tom Bonner since Molly divorced his dad due to incessant infidelity, married Alfred Brasher and moved to Bokshe, Oklahoma when he was two years old. Little is known about his early childhood but it is known he owned a coal mine at Milton, Oklahoma.

He met and married Myrtle Hickerson and went to work as a salesman for Alva Roller Mills and Blackwell. He was the sales representative for Arkansas and much of Oklahoma. Working on commission, he was very successful at selling Flour and Feed. Selling up to 7 train cars full of flour and feed a month to just the Mansfield Arkansas area alone. These kind of sales allowed Columbus to bring home 100 dollars a week during the depression. This was a lot of money, considering bank presidents at that time brought home about $125 a month. This went on until the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the U.S. who promptly in a effort to end the Great Depression started giving Feed and Flour away. The flour given away was called at the time Red Cross Flour. His company realized they make just as much money selling feed and flour to the government so it could give it away, than they could selling it locally. They no longer needed a local salesman which cost Columbus his job. He worked for other companies selling feed and flour but never resumed his previous income. He owned a coal mine in Milton, Oklahoma but the railroad that hauled the coal away went broke and he decided to sell out. He eventualy owned a restaurant which he called Bonners Cafe. The restaurant was located at 16th and Drexel in Oklahoma City,OK. Columbus eventually sold his restaurant and lived apart from Myrtle his wife. They never divorced but they did not live together.

In his older years he lived with W.R his son and helped take care of his grandkids. He had a heart attack in 1968 and died at 1104 N.W. 79th Street. Margaret Sachse and Vince Bonner were at the home when he passed away. Neither Margaret or Vince a child of eight knew CPR or he might have been saved. Vince Bonner remembers him sitting in the chair with his head back gasping and his Aunt Margaret screaming hysterically. Vince eventually ran down the street and told his brother Jeff that Grandad was having a heart attack but his brother did not believe him.

The Funeral was attended by hundreds of people who had been helped by Columbus. Beverly Bonner remembers that every meal she cooked for him he would say to her, "honey that was the best meal I ever had". She also was told every morning by Columbus "Good Morning Sweetheart". Carol Bonner Morley his granddaughter who he treated like a princess remembers "Anywhere I wanted to go he would take me." Vince and Jeff Bonner remember him as the most honest person they ever met. He was a very generous man who would loan anybody money who asked him to. Sadly most did not pay him back. He would usually say, "I guess they need that money more than I do." When asked why he did not pursue these people to give him the money they owed him, he would say, "I can sleep at night knowing what I did during the day. They may not be able too."

He at one time owned 80 acres in Roland Oklahoma, where the school and Football field were eventually located. The same field and school that Jeff and Vince Bonner his grandsons attended and played football on. A real estate company in Fort Smith, Arkansas illegally sold the land without telling Columbus. Columbus found out when he visited the land and found someone living on it. It turns out the Real Estate company had sold it several times to people who would pay 500 down and then when they could not make the payments the real estate company would sell it to someone else until this man bought it and made the payments. All this without the knowledge of the owner. Columbus was mad enough this time to "beat the hell out of that man." The man who owned the real estate company begged Columbus not to beat him up and gave him $4500 the supposed sale price of the land. It is said by the family if he would have kept all the money and land that was stollen or given away by him, he would have died a very rich man, but he died with hardly any money.

As a father, he believed in the old saying: "Spare the rod and spoil the child". One time W.R (Dub) ended up in jail for being intoxicated. Dub told the police, "Please, whatever you do, don't tell my dad. I will stay in jail if you want, but please don't let my dad know". He truly gave whippings that his children would and did remember. He really believed in installing the work ethic in his kids. Going so far as buying two cotton fields not for the money they generated but just for his kids to work bringing in the cotton crop, so the kids would learn to work.

There are few men in history that are truly good, this man was one of them. If Columbus did not go to heaven, nobody does.

My Southern Family

Columbus Mulgro BONNER

24 Nov 1892 - 29 Aug 1966

ID Number: I56

Notes

Sources

Margaret Ann SCOTT

29 Jan 1832 - 2 May 1914

ID Number: I94626

Sources

Kesiah STODGHILL

ABT 1740 - AFT 1815

ID Number: I69422

Notes

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GRAULE TAILLEFER

ABT 1118 - ____

ID Number: I96996

Sources

William Henry TURNER

ABT 1840 - ____

ID Number: I41280

Sources

Julia Ann UPSHAW

27 Nov 1816 - 12 Oct 1886

ID Number: I3974

Sources

Mary E. WARE

ABT 1850 - ____

ID Number: I46647

Notes

Sources