Media

Notables Attend Funeral For Bill Bonds -- A Giant Star in the Detroit Galaxy

December 19, 2014, 5:51 PM

A group of local stars gathered Friday to pay respect to one of the giant stars in the Detroit galaxy -- Bill Bonds, who died on Dec. 13.

John Wisely of the Detroit Free Press reports that those attending the funeral mass on Friday at  the Holy Name Catholic Church in Birmingham included:  Stephen Clark, Mary Conway, Don Shane, Erik Smith, Diana Lewis, Jerry Hodak, Cheryl Chodun, Huel Perkins, Guy Gordon, Carmen Harlan, Devin Scillian, Chuck Gaidica,Tiger's Hall of Famer Al Kaline and former Detroit Mayor Denis Archer.

"Our galaxy was full of stars," said Al Upchurch, a long-time producer at Channel 7, where Bonds spent the bulk of his career, according to the Freep. "He was the superstar and he knew it. And we knew it."

After the funeral, local photographer Linda Solomon wrote on Facebook: 

The eulogies for Bill Bonds were so touching and captured every aspect of his larger than life personality ... Bills younger brother said " he was an anchorman ... but he was MY anchor."

John Bonds went on to say how sad his daughter is to lose her beloved uncle . He asked his 15 year old daughter what she loved most and what she will miss most about her famous uncle ... She responded " He made me feel smart ."

Tom Leyden, sports director at WXYZ posted this on Facebook after the visitation Thursday: 

We need to stop meeting like this, but it was good to see so many of my colleagues at Bill Bonds' visitation tonight. Bill really was magnetic. Looking forward to tomorrow's 7pm special on 7 and seeing Erik Smith, Don Shane, Robbie Timmons, Diana Lewis, Jerry Hodak, Mary Conway, Cheryl Chodun and so many more! We gather together to mourn and celebrate and make each other laugh.


Read more:  WXYZ


Leave a Comment:

Photo Of The Day