A legacy of love and generosity lives on through the Bonoans, whose selfless spirits inspired their family to embrace tissue donation and continue their tradition of giving.
Frances Bonoan
Sometimes in photographs, certain features paint a picture of their characteristics. For Frances Bonoan, those kind, warm eyes, with just a twinge of humor, instantly give away the type of person she was.
Frances could do anything. She sewed, cooked amazingly (her children still try to replicate her recipes), baked wedding cakes and drew. She had an amazing sense of humor and loved to sing loudly and proudly.
“What always stuck out about me is how giving she was,” said Frances’ daughter Kim. “She was willing to help anybody, even going as far as giving away my baby doll, if she felt someone else needed it more than me. She was so willing to give and help others, and I felt that love”
Another daughter, Toni, remembered her mother’s singing.
“She loved to sing, but she was always just a little bit off, and I’d always tell her, ‘Mom, stop singing.’ She was always a little bit off key, and she would tell me, ‘I’m in key, everyone else is off,’” she said. “That’s where the humor came in.”
Another daughter, Toni, remembered her mother’s humor in a memory of them joking about her singing.
“She loved to sing, but she was always just a little bit off, and I’d always tell her, ‘Mom, stop singing.’ She was always a little bit off key, and she would tell me, ‘I’m in key, everyone else is off,’” she said. “That’s where the humor came in.”
Her personality left a legacy for her family that continues to this day.
When she passed away from cancer on Jan. 1, 2007, her family decided to have her tissue donated to help others, like she often did in life.
“The decision was done with a lot of love and care”, Kim said.
“It was an easy process, and it made us feel like a piece of them still existed somewhere,” she said.
The donation experience was so inspiring that the Bonoan family decided to all register as donors.
When talking about Frances, her family reminisces on the grieving process, feeling comfort that their mother’s legacy continues through her donations.
“There’s something beautiful about the process that has this extra element of love knowing that they made a choice to help other people,” said her daughter Dona. “It’s a message of openness and consideration and helping others when there is this need.”
“She would have been happy to know someone else would be able to use her tissue and could benefit from something from her,” Kim said. “Kindness came easily to her.”
Charles Bonoan
Everyone knew Charlie.
He was so full of life. Everybody was Charlie’s friend. He had a way of connecting with people that made them feel special, a gift few possess.
After many years of working at Kelly Air Force Base, and then as a bus driver for San Antonio Independent School district, Charles Bonoan could find a friend anywhere he went, whether out for an errand or taking his family out to dinner.
“Oh my gosh, he would run into someone everywhere,” Krystal, one of his daughters said. “He could make a friend out of anybody. We would ask, ‘Did you know that person? No? Well, I guess you do now.’”
Charles had a big commanding voice that his six children remember fondly. A voice that he used to express his final wishes: to become a tissue donor after his passing.
When the Bonoan family lost their matriarch Frances, the family unanimously agreed to donate her tissue, a decision that would continue her legacy of selfless kindness.
The process was so simple and the experience so inspiring that Charles told his children when his time came, he’d like to do the same thing as Frances.
Twelve years later, when Charles passed away on Jan. 19, 2019, his children were at peace with the decision, knowing that is what he wanted.
“Dad was able to say yes [to tissue donation]. It’s something that we could prepare for…If people were open to learning about tissue donation, it’s something they could consider for themselves or their family,” Dona said. “It can change minds on how these programs work and the legacy your family leaves behind. It is such a source of comfort.”
Like his wife Frances, Charles loved deeply and profoundly. Toni, one of his daughters, shared one of her favorite memories of her father at Church’s Fried Chicken:
“It was a cold day, and there was this old man going through the garbage looking for something to eat. Dad was in line where you couldn’t see. And we cried and cried to mom to tell daddy to get him something to eat,” Toni said. “Then we see dad at the window getting his food and walks over to the man to give him a meal.
