Dahlia Legacy Project

Date of Profile Submitted:          October 16, 2021

Author: Richard Williams interviewed by Linda Holmes-Cook Dahlia Legend’s Full Name:        George W. (Bill) Bonneywell

1. George W. (Bill) Bonneywell was born in Everett, Washington 1933. Died in Everett, WA on December 18, 2011. Grew up at 2310 Maple Street in Everett, and when he was married, lived with his wife Ida on 60^th Street, In Snohomish, WA for all their married life of 55 years.
2. Bill worked briefly as a clerk for the Milwaukee Railroad, but spent most of his work life at Scott Paper Mill for 37 years until his retirement in 1993.
3. After Bill was discharged from the Army in 1955, one of his friends introduced him to his next-door neighbor, Ida Councilman. Bill and this friend shared a mutual interest in raising and racing pigeons, a hobby they engaged in for years. It wasn’t long before Bill and Ida tied the knot and started their family. They had one daughter, Joanne, and two sons, Bill and David. Ida and Bill became very involved in dahlia growing and hybridizing in their home garden. Daughter Joanne’s son, Richard Johnson, helped his grandparents out with the dahlia gardening, learning from his Grandpa Bill. Eventually Richard hybridized a dahlia he called Midnight Star, which was awarded the Stanley Johnson award in 2010.
4. Bill first joined the Snohomish County Dahlia Society in the late 70s, around 1978-79. SCDS became Bill’s home dahlia club.
5. Bill was also active with the Seattle Dahlia Society, and the Inland Empire Dahlia Society. Bill was also very active in the Pacific Northwest Dahlia Society (PNDC).
6. Bill eventually served as president of PNDC. He also served as the secretary of the Seattle Dahlia Society for some years.
7. Bill started growing dahlias in the 1970s.
8. Eventually his garden grew 700 named varieties of dahlias, as well as 700 seedlings in any given year. His garden was very big, with beautiful soft dark brown soil, perfect for dahlia growing.
9. Bill was greatly influenced by Dick Matthies, breeder of Fidalgo dahlias. He also learned a lot from Gordie Leroux, of Kenora dahlias.
10. His favorite dahlia varieties were ball forms. His handle was Snoho, and he currently has 45 named varieties in the ADS Online Classification Guide and 55 on the list by D. Bates UK.
11. Tips and tricks for increasing dahlia stock, watering, etc. Bill used the process of taking dahlia cuttings in order to increase his stock of dahlias. He was also the first to bid or by new introductions. He would then take cuttings of these costly dahlias and give them away to his friends. He helped a lot of dahlia growers grow new and special varieties that they would not otherwise have been able to afford.
12. Did Bill hybridize? Yes – he hybridized, learning from Gordie and Dick.
13. Bill introduced at least 55 ADS sanctioned varieties. He started hybridizing in the early 80s.
14. He didn’t have any favorite dahlias, to our knowledge.
15. Bill chose his names from family members, as well as people that he knew through friends. He also named some dahlias for people working in the communities, such as waitresses, and for older people living in Senior Living in Marysville.
16. Bill liked the challenge of developing new varieties.
17. Bill started showing around the early 80s. He, Richard Williams, Sumio MiTai, Larry & Dorothy Manwell and Tom & Twyla Ball often traveled as group to enter dahlia shows around the Northwest. Bill liked to enter his seedlings and was very competitive. He was an excellent judge and really loved teaching others to judge and demonstrating how to do it right.
18. Didn’t have a favorite section.
19. Some of his most successful show flowers were Snoho Storm, Snoho Doris, Snoho JoJo and Snoho Blizzard.
20. Any tips and tricks to describe for show preparation, staging, transporting dahlias to the shows? Bill loved to go all over the state to shows with his friends Dick Williams and others. One tip might be to have a spouse who can help you the way Ida helped Bill. He would always select the flowers to be entered, and Ida would do the staging for him.
21. They would sometimes stay up all night, after getting off work – in order to prepare entries for the next morning’s show.
22. Bill went to any National Shows that were within driving distance. Since he didn’t like to fly, his wife Ida went with a friend to Washington DC in 1979. He also attended the National Show when it was in Spokane in 1980; Vancouver, BC in 1997, Federation National Show in 2004 and the SCDS National Show in Everett in 2009.

Federation of Northwest Dahlia Growers Hall of Fame – 2012

Many of us in Wenatchee met Bill Bonneywell years ago since he traveled to Wenatchee to judge our shows. As a long-time friend of Tony DeRooy, Bill was always willing to hop in his car and drive over the pass to help us out at our annual show. His attitude was always gracious, and he left the impression that we were doing him a favor to allow him to come over and spend a couple days with us here on the dry side of the Cascades. He and Ida were always so kind and helpful to us as we have worked to raise the level of quality of our flowers.

As the originator of Snoho dahlias, Bill has won many awards for his blooms, with Snoho Doris a perennial member of the ADS Fabulous 50. Personally, I really loved one of Bill’s last seedlings, Snoho Monika, a pretty little deep red stellar. I can only imagine how Bill’s heart must have almost burst with pride when his grandson Richard Johnson came home with the 2010 Stanley Johnson award for his cultivar, Midnight Star. I’m sure that Richard, and others who have gardened alongside Bill have benefited greatly from his mentorship and generosity.

We lost Bill at the end of last year, following a lengthy and debilitating illness. I was both honored and saddened to receive Richard’s phone call the morning that Bill died. He must have known how much we had come to love his grandpa here in North Central Washington, and this was indeed a personal loss for us. As lovely as so many of his cultivars were and are, there was so much more to Bill than just his skill and his love for our favorite flower. It was his ongoing commitment to us, to his clubs and to dahlia growers statewide. I will always remember the last time I saw him, when he showed up at Snohomish County’s show in 2011. He greeted me from his wheelchair with a huge warm Bonneywell hug, and as he pulled away, tears were rolling down his face. He said, “This is the first show season that I haven’t been able to judge.” He was heartbroken that he couldn’t join in and do what had become second nature to him. My reassurance that the most important thing was for him to get better was cold comfort to this dear man whose life had come to revolve around his work with dahlias, judging and mentorship He hugged me again as he left to visit with others, and I said goodbye with a heavy heart.

Bill embodied the hardworking spirit that personifies the character of the dahlia grower. Although my knowledge of Bill is nowhere near as comprehensive as those who have worked with him in Snohomish County and in the Federation, what little I know is enough.

I am privileged to enter his name as a Nominee for the NW Federation 2012 Hall of Fame.

Written by Linda DeRooy Holmes-Cook

George W. (Bill) Bonneywell Jr passed away December 18, 2011. He was born on September 17, 1933 in Everett, WA. George passed away peacefully on December 18, 2011 after fighting a year long battle with possible ALS. He was born on September 17, 1933 in Everett, WA. He was preceded in death by his parents, George and Marion. He is survived by his wife, Ida of 55 years of marriage; his brother, David (Dianne); his sister, Marilyn (Ken) Ahlf, Barbara (Bob) Eaton, Georgia (George) Perez; his daughter, Joanne Johnson; his sons, Dave and Bill (Peggy); grandsons, Matthew Bonneywell, Michael and Richard Johnson; granddaughter, Krystal Johnson; also many nieces and nephews. He graduated from Everett High School. He enlisted in the Army in 1952 and discharged in 1955. He worked at Scott Paper Mill for 37 years, before retiring in 1993. He raised and raced homing pigeons for several years. He was an avid dahlia grower with his wife, growing up to 1000 plants a year. They staged, showed and judged at Dahlia Shows, across the Northwest for over 30 years. He was also instrumental in the start up programs for youth football, basketball and baseball in Snohomish in the 1970’s, coaching all for many years.

Cultivar	Size	Form	Color	Description	Orig.	Cnty	Year
BILL VANDESTEELE		BA	LB		BN-	US	84
BILL’S PLACE		P	PR		BN-	US	94
LEMON MERINGUE	BB	ID	BI	Y/W	BN-	US	95
MARION ROSE	B	LC	LB		BN-	US	97
RED UMBRELLA		ST	R	RD24	BN-	US	00
SNOHO AINI		BA	W		BN-	US	95*
SNOHO BARBARA	B	LC	R		BN-	US	93
SNOHO BEAUTY		BA	LB	PR/W	BN-	US	85
SNOHO BELLE	A	LC	V	DP18/WH5	BN-	US	09
SNOHO BERNIE		BA	FL	OR13/YL19	BN-	US	09
SNOHO BETTY	BB	FD	PR		BN-	US	94
SNOHO BLIZZARD	B	LC	W		BN-	US	91
SNOHO BUTTERSCOTCH	B	C	Y	YL22	BN-	US	07
SNOHO CHRISTMAS	BB	FD	BI		BN-	US	95
SNOHO CROWN	BB	C	OR		BN-	US	98
SNOHO DAVID	BB	FD	DR		BN-	US	87
SNOHO DORIS		BA	DB	RD9/BR2	BN-	US	00
SNOHO FRECKLES		MB	V	YL5/RD10	BN-	US	05
SNOHO HAILY		MB	L	LV10	BN-	US	10
SNOHO JESS	A	ID	Y		BN-	US
SNOHO JEWEL	B	ID	PR		BN-	US	92
SNOHO JO JO		BA	BR	BR11	BN-	US	90
SNOHO JOANNE	B	IC	Y		BN-	US	03
SNOHO JONA	B	ID	OR		BN-	US	94
SNOHO LES		BA	V	LV9/DR12/wh3	BN-	US	11*
SNOHO LINDA	B	FD	Y		BN-	US	89
SNOHO MATTHEW	BB	FD	DR		BN-	US	99
SNOHO MIDNIGHT	B	FD	DR		BN-	US	95
SNOHO MONIKA		ST	DR	DR6	BN-	US	11
SNOHO OKRA		MB	BR		BN-	US	94
SNOHO PATTY	B	SC	FL		BN-	US	94
SNOHO PEGGY		BA	DP		BN-	US	94
SNOHO PENNY	BB	LC	DP		BN-	US	97
SNOHO RICHARD		MB	L		BN-	US	97
SNOHO ROSCOE		MB	OR		BN-	US	97
SNOHO RUSTY	B	LC	OR		BN-	US	97
SNOHO SHIRLEY	B	ID	V	DR/Y	BN-	US	87
SNOHO SKIP		ST	OR	OR23	BN-	US	98
SNOHO SNOWBALL		BA	W		BN-	US	02
SNOHO SONIA		BA	L	LV7	BN-	US	07
SNOHO SPLASH	BB	ID	DB	W/PR	BN-	US	85
SNOHO STORM	A	IC	W	WH2	BN-	US	10
SNOHO TAMMIE		BA	PK	PK23	BN-	US	86
SNOHO TRIUMPH	A	SC	DR		BN-	US	99
SNOHO TWISTER	B	ID	DB		BN-	US	02*
SNOHO VICKEY	M	FD	L		BN-	US	95
SNOHO VONDA	B	LC	Y		BN-	US	93
SNOHO WILLIAM	A	SC	L		BN-	US	97
SNOHO WONDER	B	LC	OR		BN-	US	98