‘Circle of love’: Honoring ‘Big Dane’ Bonang

Memorial walk-run Oct. 25 in Wiscasset
Mon, 10/13/2014 - 8:45am

    After work at BK Auto in Litchfield, Dane Bonang would come home to Wiscasset and go for a walk-run in the neighborhoods of Fowle Hill, Huntoon Hill and West Alna roads. It was part of his exercise regimen, his mother Mary Beth Bonang said.

    On Oct. 25, she and other family members are hoping many people turn out at the Wiscasset High School track to run or walk in Bonang’s memory, to raise college scholarship money in his name.

    Bonang was 26 when he died in a May 11, 2013 car accident in Wiscasset.

    Big Dane’s Memorial 5K Walk/Run comes three days after his birthday on Oct. 22, when the family would like people to put orange ribbons on their mailboxes. Orange was Bonang’s favorite color. Relatives across the country will be doing the same, his mother said.

    The upcoming walk-run benefits an endowment for scholarships to Central Maine Community College where Dane Bonang studied after graduation from Wiscasset High in 2005. Placing the money into the endowment means it will continue to yield scholarships, Mary Beth Bonang said.

    The event already has attracted a number of sponsors, Bonang said. The community showed support for the family after her son died and has continued to since then.

    “It’s amazing, totally amazing. We didn’t know how big his circle of love was, but we do now,” she said.

    “I think it’s good for everybody, friends and family,” Stephen Bonang said about the  walk-run in his brother’s memory. “It’s important to do something.”

    “This is something to keep his name alive in the community, and all his friends and family liked the idea of it going to education,” Dane Bonang’s father Allan Bonang said.

    Meeting for a photograph at the Wiscasset High track on Oct. 12, family members had with them a number of items celebrating the memory of their brother and son, including a closeup photo of his arm tattoo with the words “love,” “trust” and “honor.” He lived by those words, family members said. The baby footprints on the event flier are Dane’s, his mother said.

    As with a memorial fishing derby on Biscay Pond that raised $1,025 in July, Mary Beth Bonang would like the walk-run to be an annual event.

    “People are already asking about next year,” she said.

    Registration for the walk-run is $20 and comes with a T-shirt. Anyone wanting the shirt in time for the event needs to order it by Oct. 19.

    For more on the event, or to register, call Mary Beth or Allan Bonang at 207-882-9911.

    Donations by check to the scholarship endowment should have “Dane Bonang scholarships” in the memo and be mailed to CM Education Foundation, attn. Robert Philippon, 1250 Turner St., Auburn, ME 04210.