Death ends a brother's quest

Albany Times Union ^ | October 29, 2005 | Michele Morgan Bolton

[Aliska]

Death ends a brother's quest Cancer claims Ernie Bonneau as he waited for calls that never came

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer Click byline for more stories by writer. First published: Saturday, October 29, 2005

ALBANY -- Ernie Bonneau left the world Friday waiting for phone calls that never came. From the nuns at St. Colman's Home, to offer a 52-years-late explanation of how and why his little brother Gilbert died in 1953.

And from Albany County's district attorney, David Soares, whom he hoped would reopen an investigation into an alleged eyewitness account of Gilbert's death that emerged in 2001 but was never considered.

After hanging on as long as he could, Bonneau, 62, died early Friday in a hospice at St. Peter's Hospital after a brief battle with cancer.

His phone never rang.

[Aliska]

Article is cached by google, so I don't know if the link will work. I remember talking with Ernest Michael Bonneau on this forum (he signed on briefly using his own name) early in about 2004 at the time the problems in Albany were being hotly debated and felt compassion for him. I never knew what to think about the allegations. I was following up on the current status of the situation and found this old article. Rest in Peace, Ernie. I hope you are in a happier place with your mother and little brother now. Evidently he passed away October 28, 2005.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

The Bonneau brothers are convinced at least one of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary repeatedly hit Gilbert on the back of the head with a broom handle to silence his cries.

Before he died, his brothers had been placed in another child-care facility in Albany.

[MarMema]

ping, aren't you in this area?

[Aliska]

Here is an old thread from that time, it is not the one where some of us talked to Ernie, can't find that one, may be too old. This one was started by NYer. Look at all the posters who are no longer posting, at least under those names, sandyeggo is one of the few, didn't go through all the replies. I can't find the thread where some of us talked to Ernest, and I can't find his name in find poster.

Albany Catholics React

Regardless of what happened, it was a sad story. I wish there could have been some kind of closure one way or the other. I included NYer and sandyeggo because of "protocols" :-).

[BlackVeil]

Look at all the posters who are no longer posting

Often, I find that I bit melancholy when one sees an old thread ... all those not here any more.

[Aliska]

I was amazed, wonder where they have all gone. Kind of a melancholy thread on a couple of levels.

I hope they wouldn't object to my posting their photo; I'll take it down if it upsets anyone. I'd like to PS some of the cracks out, that would be pretty challenging, and I have so many projects going, I think it would be beyond my skill level.

Ernie, or Ernest Michael, is on the left, the rest is self-explanatory except I'm not sure who the brother William was mentioned in the obit, Daniel William?, such cute little boys. No matter what happened, their plight touched me, I can't help but feel love for that broken family and what happened to them in their early years.

Early Photo Bonneau Brothers