Plan for the Future
Iris Thompson Bonynge died peacefully on November 18, 2012 at the age of 95. Born on June 19, 1917 at home in Jersey City, she was the daughter of Richard Barton Thompson and Nell Heller Thompson.
Upon graduating from East Orange High School and Berkeley Secretarial School, she went on to work at AT&T in Manhattan.
Iris met the love of her life, Robert Walter Bonynge, at a Halloween party and they married on April 4, 1941. They moved to Summit, where she turned her devotion and attention to raising their 4 children. She was an active member of Central Presbyterian Church, the Fortnightly Club and volunteered as a Pink Lady at Overlook Hospital.
Retirement took Iris to the community of Rossmoor in Jamesburg, NJ where she became an active member of the Women’s Guild and co-chairman of the Bazaar that raised funds for college scholarships. The last ten years of her life were spent at Green Hill in West Orange where she was an active member of the senior community.
Iris is survived by her son David Bonynge and his wife, Kathy, of Cedar Knolls, Cheryl Harker and her husband, Dick, of Island Heights, NJ and Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Lisa Schmidt and her husband, Fred, of Summit. Her eldest son, Robert Walter Bonynge, Jr. of Minneapolis predeceased her. Her five grandchildren, Chris Clark of Hoboken, Jennifer and Gillian Bonynge of Boston and Brooklyn, Mark and Annie Schmidt of Summit all loved her dearly and will miss her wry and wise encouragement.