Update: Museum directors improving after crash

Two Northern Nevada museum directors who were severely injured in late May in a head-on vehicle crash in Nye County are slowly improving.

Myron Freedman, administrator for the Nevada Division of Museums and History in Carson City, said Monday both Dr. Josh Bonde and Rebecca “Becky” Hall, who are married, are making gradual improvements. They have both been released from a Southern Nevada hospital, but they face weeks of rehabilitation.

“They’re definitely improving, and that’s good news,” Freedman said.

Bonde, a 1988 Churchill County High School graduate, became Nevada State Museum director almost one year ago in 2022. He succeeded Freedman, who had been the museum director since 2017. Bonde was formerly the curator and director of the Las Vegas Natural History Museum from 2018 to 2020.

Bonde was recognized in 2020 as a “40 Under 40” award recipient by Las Vegas Weekly for his work conserving Nevada history. A member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone, Bonde attended the University of Nevada, Reno where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He completed a Master of Science in Earth Sciences in 2003 from Montana State University in Bozeman, and a Ph.D. in Geoscience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2008.

Hall, executive director of the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada, previously served as executive director and paleontologist for the Nevada Science Center in Las Vegas.

A Sept. 9, 2022 article in the Nevada Appeal said Hall graduated from UNLV with a Bachelor of Science in earth and environmental science with a minor in biology. Hall recently co-authored, with Bonde, the first described dinosaur unique to Nevada, Nevadadromeus schmitti, which was scheduled to be released into publication in the Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science.

According to the Nevada State Police and museum officials, Bonde and Hall were injured in a head-on vehicle crash on May 20 that killed the woman’s 10-year-old daughter and two Las Vegas men on a remote stretch of U.S. Highway 95.

Information from the GoFundMe page, states Bonde, Hall and Hall’s daughter, Nola Humphrey, were traveling in a pickup truck that collided with another vehicle traveling in the wrong lane.

Family friend Chris Palladino told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Nola was “full of life.”

“She was a very lively, fun little girl,” he told the LVRJ.

The Nevada State Police reported June 1 two Las Vegas men, driver Victor Jacuinde-Garcia, 22, and passenger Giovanni Vazquez, 24, died when their Chevrolet Trax SUV traveling north crashed into a Dodge Ram pickup heading south about 9:25 p.m. west of Mercury.

According to the report, Nola was taken to Pahrump’s Desert View Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The LVRJ reported another daughter of Hall’s, Keira Humphrey, 12, was hospitalized but has been released.

The GoFundMe page indicated Bonde endured a shattered ankle and fractures in his back and ribs. He also underwent emergency surgery for abdominal trauma. Keira underwent surgery to repair her abdominal injuries. Hall suffered a shattered right knee and femur, a broken left foot, a fused broken back, a broken sternum, a weakened neck and required surgery to repair abdominal and intestinal trauma.

As far as he knows, Freedman said Bond and Hall haven’t made any funeral plans for Nola.

A GoFundMe fundraising page has been created to help Bonde and Hall with medical bills and other costs. As of Monday, it had raised more than $70,000 toward its $100,000 goal.

Steve Ranson of the Lahontan Valley News contributed to this report.