Chad Williams-Bey was among hundreds of Howard University students to drive eight hours to Cincinnati to pay homage to his dear friend, Aaron Bonner. Last week, members of the Howard community came together to remember Bonner, 24, who passed away on July 2.
“I went for closure,” said Williams-Bey, a senior political science and economics major. “I did not feel like I owed anything to him, I just feel honored to have known him.” Williams-Bey said about 700 people attended Bonner’s funeral, half of whom were his Howard family.
After completing his freshman year in 2003, Bonner was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, a disease caused by a genetic mutation that spreads from the back of the throat to other parts of the body. He has been fighting not only to survive, but to earn a Howard degree ever since.
When doctors gave Bonner just two weeks to live, family and friends contacted Howard University senior administrators in an attempt to persuade them to bestow an honorary degree on Bonner. Although he had to withdraw from school in the fall of 2007, Bonner hoped to obtain his degree in advertising and public relations and go on to law school.
“He kind of lived for Howard towards the end,” Gary Waldon, Bonner’s stepfather, said. “Well, just the whole time. He just loved Howard University.”
After several letters were written on his behalf to the university, the family was asked to write a letter to Jannette L. Dates, Dean of the John H. Johnson School of Communications, to continue their pursuit for an honorary degree.
