Bonnie Lee Tharrington Kane

ROCKY MOUNT - How does one say “goodbye” to a legend? Bonnie Lee Tharrington Kane, age 79, passed away on Wednesday, January 31, 2024. She was born on June 5, 1944, had a larger-than-life footprint in Rocky Mount and the Nash County, Rocky Mount, and Nash-Rocky Mount Schools she loved so dearly. Affectionately known as “Aunt Bonnie” to hundreds of IB students, she passed away peacefully after failing health over the last few months. She is survived by her cherished son, Harry Joseph Kane IV and his wife, Alaina, and her beloved cousins, HI Tharrington, Robert Brown, and Margaret Ann Sutton. She was predeceased by her son, George William Kane, and she was a devoted caregiver to her parents George William Tharrington and Rosa Lee Ellen Tharrington until their deaths. Bonnie grew up in Nash County and graduated from Rocky Mount Senior High, attended NC Wesleyan briefly, graduated from the University of North Carolina, earned a master's from East Carolina University, and eventually returned to earn a second master's from UNC in Latin and Classical Studies. As a young wife, she began her teaching career in south Florida, but eventually ended up back in Nash County where her parents owned a home and farm land. She often said she couldn’t stand to be far away from her mother and father. Bonnie recalled riding around eastern North Carolina in their family car in the 1940s and 50s, going back and forth from Rocky Mount to Atlantic Beach where they owned a “beach house” near the famous Atlantic Beach circle. She loved and owned that little beach house until the day she died, often bragging about how many hurricanes it had withstood. Bonnie laughed that as a child she would make that trip, her face propped between her parents, chattering incessantly and questioning endlessly for the long drive there and back. The Tharringtons loved their only child, and she said they indulged her so much that she soon learned to believe she was a princess. Married to Harry Kane in 1964, that marriage didn’t last, but she never let go of any friendship, and well into her late life she was proud to call Harry and Joy, his second wife, her friends, often spending holidays with them in California until life took its toll on them as well. Bonnie eventually returned to her roots in the school system that educated her. She was the only Latin teacher in the Nash and Rocky Mount schools for years and was responsible for the elaborate medieval feasts and “Roman Banquets'' through which she educated many generations of middle schoolers about the beauty of the classics. When the Rocky Mount Chamber founded the Program for Excellence in Education (later changed to the Twin County Education Foundation) and funded grants for creative teaching, Bonnie Kane was, of course, among the first to write a grant and apply. It was a surprise to no one that every year as long as the grant awarding program was available, she won funding. From having her students at Benvenue Middle School interview notables and publish them in a book, to hosting a Roman banquet, to staging a full Medieval Feast on the campus of North Carolina Wesleyan College, to having students perform three plays at the Rocky Mount City’s Tank Theatre, Bonnie made history come alive for hundreds of adoring students. The three plays were based on “The Lost Colony,” “Taming of the Shrew,” and “Romeo and Juliet.” The students who participated will say to this day the memories from them are their favorite ones from their school years. Bonnie had an exceptional work ethic and expected the same from her students. She worked for years at the Canton Station and eventually at Nash General Hospital on weekends, valuing not only work, but she also loved feeling useful and busy. And she was busy. Bonnie had a deep love of education, words, and learning. No doubt, the pinnacle of her teaching career was bringing the IB program to “Senior High,” in 2000, and it was known far and wide that Bonnie Kane had the best IB program in the State, perhaps even in the country, something for which she was deeply proud. In 2011, when Senior High moved to a new building and changed its name, she told her friends and colleagues, “after forty-four years, it was time.” But truthfully, she was never very far from the school she loved so dearly, living just around the corner in the home she grew up in on West Haven Blvd. A few of her closest friends called her “the gazette” because even after retiring, she kept up with nearly every student she ever taught. She was also known for her signature notes of encouragement, support, love, and well wishes, often writing in the margins, on the back, around the edges, vertically, horizontally, and sideways. At graduation and completion of the two-year IB program, Bonnie presented all her IB seniors with a framed copy of “Desiderata,” by Max Ehrmann, and those words mattered to her. Though she didn’t “love silence” as the poem suggests in its opening lines, she did practice the last line. She was cheerful, happy, and believed this is a beautiful world. Covid was hard on everyone, but it was especially hard on Bonnie because she loved her friends so much. She loved being busy, social, and active, especially in the many churches she visited and loved. She was a charter member of Lakeside Baptist Church and loved to visit churches of all faiths, but none mattered more to her than Our Lady of Perpetual Help, where Bonnie was forever lighting candles for friends who were sick, hurting, or losing a beloved family member or pet. Bonnie was the kind of legend that her friends believed would never stop spinning. She was loved by many close friends and caregivers, as well as every person she touched in her seventy-nine years. Heaven has gained a good one, and no doubt she is up there organizing Roman Banquets, chattering endlessly, and laughing her delightful and robust laugh. “Ave atque vale, semper Amici!” Bonnie Lee Tharrington Kane. “Semper in corde meo.” (Farewell, forever friend.) A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, February 16, 2024, at 11:30 AM at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, 331 Hammond Street, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. The Rite of Committal will take place following the Mass at Rocky Mount Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Bonnie’s memory to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, 331 Hammond Street, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. Arrangements entrusted to Wheeler & Woodlief Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 1130 N. Winstead Avenue, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. You may share memories and condolences with the family by visiting www.wheelerwoodlief.com.