The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
July 8, 2006Martha Earnest Bonbright of Athens, Ga. and New York, NY died July 5, 2006 after a short illness. She was born August 29, 1909, and was the daughter of Professor and Mrs. David Lewis Earnest, well known Athenians.
Mrs. Bonbright attended the Normal School Elemantary, Athens High School and the University of Georgia where she was a member of the Phi Mu Sorority in the class of 1931. She continued her education earning a degree in Library Sciences from Columbia University in NYC. There she met and married the late Dr. James C. Bonbright of Evanston, Illinois, who was a professor at Columbia University.
Mrs. Bonbright was the mother of three children: Ms. Alice V. Bonbright (deceased), Mr. James C. Bonbright, Jr. and Mr. Daniel Irving Bonbright. She is survived by 5 grandchildren: Martha Merrifield Martin, Dr. Benjamin F. Merrifield, James C. Bonbright, III, Carol Bonbright Corwin, William Earnest Bonbright; two nephews: Dr. David L. Earnest and Mr. William Earnest; a niece Mrs. Elizabeth Mathews Dixon; 9 great grandchildren and many cousins.
Mrs. Bonbright was very active in various Athens community and University of Georgia related activities. She began the endowment of the James C. Bonbright Center for Public Utilities at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business in honor of her husband's work in the field of public utilities. She was a member of the Athens First United Methodist Church, the Colonial Dames, the D.A.R., the Bobbin Mill Garden Club, and the Roadrunners travel group. She was an enthusiatic genealogist and a loving and helpful support to all her extended family. She was a patron of the the Town "n" Gown Theatre, the Georgia unit of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and the Salvation Army. She contributed heavily to the National Dance Education Organization and the Wesley Woods Foundation of Athens.
Alfred Johnson Haskell served in the Civil War.