A Tribute To Nancy Bonne

I know it's been more than a week since my last posting. This last week has been more of a life changing experience than I anticipated. It has taken me a while to figure out where to start and how to appropriately portray this past week in the Himalayas. As Woody Allen says, "80% of success is showing up." So here I am showing up to blog and do my best to honor Nancy.

Last Wednesday, July 14, 2010, Nancy had a heart attack at our house here in Sikkim. Sao, the nurse that also lives with us, responded within seconds and did everything possible to save her life. I do not wish to outline the events of that day. What is on my heart is writing to honor Nancy, to focus on her life and how she touched mine.

I met Nancy Bonne at the Boston Airport on June 28th, 2010. Aka found me in the airport and excitedly took me outside to meet his mother and his childhood librarian, Nancy. We made our way through check in and security together. She told me stories about what Aka was like as an 8 year old boy in the Beverly Library in Massachusetts. It was immediately evident what a close bond Nancy had with Aka and his family. She told me many stories of Aka and his brother Pintso. She also told me her story about how she came to Taktse International School.

Nancy sent out an email to her entire address book when she retired as the Children's Librarian at the Beverly Library. Not even twenty minutes later she received and email from Pintso asking her to come and help in the library at Taktse. She said she would love to but that she had retired so she could spend more time with her family. Nancy told me with a sparkle in her eye that it was then that Pintso told her she could bring her family with her. In April of 2009, Nancy did just that.

I only know of her journey to Taktse with her family because of all the wonderful stories she told us about her previous trip here. No matter where we were, she would remember exactly who was with her, what they said and where they sat last time she was here. One of the first times I heard of her grandsons Evan and Kyle was in the jeep ride up to Sikkim. She was quick to point out the location where the jeep had to stop for one of them to vomit. "Isn't it funny, that after all of those jeep rides, it was on the way home that he got car sick?" Her love for her family was evident in every conversation I ever had with Nancy. Her time with them in India was very special to her and I think she enjoyed being her again if only to relive some of those moments. When we first arrived at our Chandmarie house, I felt as if I had been her before. The whole journey to the house she told us about the rooms and the bathrooms and where everyone had slept. Evan and Kyle have something in common with me, we both stayed in the room called "La Cave". The house has this great sitting area by the fire pit on the porch. The first time the group of us sat down there she told us about their last supper at the house and how the candles were lit. I just want her family to know how much she loved them and that there wasn't a day that went by without a story of her family.

Why would Nancy come all the way back to India at the age of 76? For a few reasons I imagine. Nancy loves this family. Sonam, Maria, Pintso and Aka were very special to Nancy. She loves the mission of the school and of course she loves to read. I imagine that Nancy was an incredible librarian. She loved giving book talks and she was incredible at it. When we arrived in Sikkim we arrived during the schools' summer break. Nancy was not one to sit around the house and just enjoy a few days of rest before school started back up, she wanted to get in that library!

This is a photo of us on the way to school one morning.

Oh, was she excited when she did. I will always remember a conversation between her and Pintso. She told Pintso she was so excited to see that the library was kept in oder and still organzied with the spine labels! Pintso looked at her and said, "Nancy you built this library." I couldn't see her face but I am certain she was beaming with pride and joy. She had told me before that the last time she was here the books were not arranged and they did not have spine labels. Well, she must have done a great job teaching people the last time she was here because the library looks amazing now.

The greatest thing is how much the students and staff alike enjoy it and use it. One of Nancy's amazing attributes was her ability to inspire people to read. She came home one day from school and told us that a teacher had told her that he didn't enjoy reading and he asked her why that was. She responded with, "Well, you didn't go to a school like Taktse." She followed that response by figuring out what genre of reading the teacher enjoyed the most and gave him a book that she thought he would like. The gift of reading was a gift she was amazing at giving. Here are some photos of teachers at Taktse talking about why they were interested in reading certain books at a staff meeting. This is her legacy:)

Another thing that Nancy loved was children. Nancy absolutely came alive the first day of school. You could just see how happy she was to be back in the library reading to Taktse children. Nancy skipped some of our adventures to places she had been before and opted for staying home to read and relax. However, when Pintso mentioned Smile Land, the local swimming pool, Nancy was adamant about attending. Why? There were going to be kids there of course. While we were at Smile Land she enjoyed taking pictures of the students swimming. Nitish, a good friend of her grandson Kyle, was one of her favorite subjects:)

She also just had to get a picture of Yeshey swimming because Sara had swam with her the entire time they were at Smile Land last time. (Sara, I have never met you but I hope you are reading this. Yeshey wanted to make sure you saw this picture!)

After a day of fun and swimming at Smile Land, we went to Flamboyance, a pizza place in Gangtok. Nancy was so impressed with Pintso because he asked the students to not only thank the people who were making our pizzas but to clap for them!

That night Nancy took advantage of an opportunity to tell Nitish a very special story. The Beverly Library has an elephant collection. So last time Nancy was here, she bought an elephant for the Library from India. When she brought the elephant to the library, she named it Nitish. Nitish was so delighted by the story and that he was famous in a place called Massachusetts. I was lucky enough to capture this moment.

Nancy had a wonderful time that day at Smile Land and Flamboyance. Here are some more photos from that night.

On Tuesday night we were invited for dinner at Babula's. Nancy had a great time that evening and I just remember her being so happy. Our favorite Nancy quote of the evening was, "This has been such a nice evening to be surrounded by good company and intelligent conversation."

Nancy was a wonderful woman. I am so blessed by the time I was able to spend with her. I have a long list of books to read that she suggested and hooked me in with excellent book talks. She loved her family, she loved reading, she loved children and she also loved her Boston Red Sox. We all miss you Nancy and I will always remember you just like this: