Colleagues remember WNC instructor who loved Churchill County

Bonnie York

 
York was born in Fallon to Lem and Mary Allen in 1936 and graduated from Churchill County High School in 1953. She left Fallon to attend the College of Notre Dame where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
“She was amazingly proud of her family history,” Dwyer pointed out. “She was the last permanent resident who had the Allen last name. It makes me sad.”
York’s obituary noted her accomplishments by competing in equestrian, western and team roping. Dwyer said York also loved to ranch and had a special connection with her cattle by giving each a name. Twenty-seven years ago, Dwyer said her colleague nurtured a calf that was born blind and named her Helen after Helen Keller, an author who was born deaf and blind in 1880 but emerged as an activist for those who had disabilities.
“But she raised that cow to mingle with the other cows,” Dwyer recalled.
When York’s health began to decline, a rancher bought her cows and agreed to look after Helen. Dwyer said Helen developed health issues and was euthanized at the age of 22.
“I have never seen anyone as good with animals as Bonnie,” Dwyer said. “It could be dogs or cats, but she could relate to animals. They could understand her, and she could understand them.”
Dwyer said York didn’t live as long as her parents, but she knows her colleague didn’t have any regrets.
“She had a good life, and the life she wanted,” Dwyer said.
 WNC dean Harry “Bus” Scharmann took a few seconds to move his eyes around the basement of the Churchill Arts Council’s building, the first place he met York. The arts council building was formerly a school.
“She was one of the first full-time faculty,” Scharmann said, reflecting on the month he hired her — June 1977.
In time, York completed the transition from typing and shorthand to computers. He said York became one of the best computer instructors in the state.”
Scharmann said the community college received a grant to teach computers to the Nevada National Guard. He said York and Jim McDonald traveled to Carson City, Reno and Las Vegas. They also taught computers to the guardsmen assigned to the Fallon armory.
York retired from teaching in 2007 but agreed to become an part-time instructor. In 2012, she became an active member of the Restore Our College Campus Committee (ROCCC), which successfully lobbied for the return of more local classes and funding to the Fallon campus.

Steve Ranson/LVN
Photographs of Bonnie York’s career were on display at her Celebration of Life.

 

“I started calling people like Michelle (Dondero, the retired dean), Doris (Dwyer) and Bonnie,” Scharmann said. “Everyone got actively involved in the entire thing.”
Before Scharmann hired York to teach at WNC, she taught during the day at Churchill County High School and then at night at WNC. When a full-time opening occurred at WNC, Scharmann said “there was no question she wouldn’t be hired.”
Attending York’s celebration of life took Scharmann down memory lane of knowing her mother and how the WNC faculty helped with registration and set up the tables in the hallway to enroll students in their classes. During her 30 years with the college, York never missed a day of class, and she became an active member with the American Association of University Women. Scharmann said the college recognized York’s teaching on several occasions — in 2000 with the WNC Regents Teaching Award and the following year as Instructor of the Year. In 1990, she received the Outstanding Faculty Award.
Scharmann also remembers York as an activist, especially on the faculty senate.
“We’d go to the senate meetings in Carson City,” Scharmann said. “Bonnie was pretty involved.”
York’s work on the senate came years before she joined Scharmann and others on the ROCCC.
“She was quite a lady,” Scharmann added.
During her tenure at WNC, Scharmann said he and York worked with industry across Northern Nevada by taking trips to the different mines.
“She would teach computers to the miners,” Scharmann recalled, adding York also traveled to teach at several mines and an Indian reservation in Arizona. “She would actually teach on site.”
Kristen Hamman Calley thanked everyone who attended her mother’s Celebration of Life, and she said it was appropriate to hold the event at the arts council. Because of the donations made to the museum or arts council in her mother’s name, Calley said the arts council has dedicated a plaque on behalf of York.
“Mom loved attending all the arts council meetings and special events,” Calley said, adding she also enjoyed her time with singing in the Lahontan Valley Concert Choir.
Not only was her mother an accomplished singer, but also a pianist. She sang and played at the Epworth United Methodist Church and also played the piano for WNC graduations. Dwyer said York was a very accomplished musician.
During her later years, Calley said her mother enjoyed the company of her longtime companion Jesse Hernandez, whom she met at a dancing class. She said they shared many wonderful moments.
“She loved dancing on a regular basis,” Calley said.
Over the years, Calley said her mother knew many people from different events. She said her mother had so many lives and did so many things. She pointed to several walls of photographs of her mother and the different stages of her life.
“She touched so many lives,” Calley said.