Chamber Names 2014 Citizen of the Year

“I knew it from birth,” Dr. Carol Ann Bonds referenced a speech on her upbringing Thursday night, radiantly beaming with joy and emotion as photos and flashes snapped around her.

Clutching a shining wooden plaque with her name engraved in large, golden letters on the plate affixed to the board, Bonds smiled and searched for words.

“For the first time in over 60 years, I’m speechless,” she said.

In a presentation that noticeably moved the seven-year SAISD superintendent, Dr. Carol Ann Bonds was named the 2014 Citizen of the Year on Thursday night at the annual banquet hosted by the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce.

Beginning with a cash-bar mingle of the city’s who’s who and progressing through a catered dinner, reflections on the year past, and awards for outstanding service, the evening culminated as over 500 guests sat silent in their seats awaiting the announcement of citizen of the year.

As they made they way to the front, 2013 citizen recipients Mary and Nathanial Hankins were greeted with a round of applause, the couple smiling humbly and joking lightly before moving into the evening’s main event.

“This year’s citizen of the year was born in the south—Jackson, Miss. to be exact—the oldest child in a family of three children,” Nathanial Hankins began, careful to omit personal pronouns and keep the suspense high as the audience pondered the description. “Our citizen grew up in a home with two educated college graduates for parents, and there was never a doubt that the children would go to college and obtain as much knowledge and skill as possible.”

Hankins continued to describe Bonds’ father, a God-fearing man that was contemplative of global politics and inspired thoughtful conversation on topics that cross borders. He told of Bonds’ upbringing and the emphasis on music; how she mastered the piano and violin and went on to sing in college with a choir that performed at the Baptist World Alliance in Switzerland.

As Hankins spoke, recalling moments undoubtedly defining in Dr. Bonds’ life, she sat quietly at a table front and center, nodding and dipping her head with emotion, apparently overwhelmed at the honor she was soon to receive.

“She went off to college at Houston Baptist University thinking she would major in music,” Hankins continued. “While volunteering at missions during college, she saw a mission field with children in Houston, working with poor children who were hungry for every ounce of love shown them. She was hooked.”

Taking inspiration from that moment in Houston while she studied, Bonds decided on English and Elementary Education and received her bachelor’s from Houston Baptist, before pursuing her master’s from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor in Reading and her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin in Public School Leadership.

After graduation, “She was teaching in a small rural school [in Livingston] with primarily low socioeconomic children and going to graduate school to teach on the college level when, one night, while painting a mural in the hall of her 1914 elementary school building, her school board came to tell her they were appointing her as principal the next day due to the unexpected resignation of the current principal,” Hankins told the engaged audience. “Five years later, the neighboring city school board walked into her office and announced that their superintendent had resigned and they wanted Carol Ann.”

As Hankins read through an impressive list of accolades, a proud audience bore broad smiles and directed their attention to Dr. Bonds’ table, where she stood, surrounded by family, to accept the award of Citizen of the Year.

“I am trying to absorb the fact that some of my favorite people in my life have won this same award,” Bonds said in the dizzying aftermath of photos, hugs and sound bites. “…I look at all they’ve accomplished and to be placed in that group is overwhelming. To have family who had such a large part of my life be here makes it all the richer.”

Bonds said she didn’t have any idea she was selected for the prestigious award, but immediately knew she won when Hankins mentioned her birth in Mississippi. Having been recognized for a lifetime of achievement, Bonds said one of the things she’s most proud of happened here locally while she was superintendent.

“One of the proudest [moments] is the partnerships not only with the base, but with ASU and Howard College for dual credit and what that is meaning to our almost 1,000 graduates each year to get college under their belt paid for,” she said. “That, I think, would have to rank really high on my list.”

Bonds has been the San Angelo ISD superintendent for the past seven years, and recently announced her retirement. Her plans for the future include ambitions to remain active in San Angelo, as well as to continue volunteering in the education field.  

“I don’t know how to turn that switch off,” she said in reference to her retirement, “but I have a great opportunity to work with one of the big foundations in our nation and will start immediately, a few days a month, working in some of our nation’s most fragile high schools in the biggest cities...the rest of the time I want to volunteer here in San Angelo. I want to stay involved with kids who have a harder road…the organizations that work with children and the elderly are my passions.”