Agnes (Aggie) Martha Russell was born in Chicago on June 13, 1899. Her parents were Swedish. Her father, Martin Reinhold Wallentin Russell (1868-1962), emigrated to the U.S. in 1880, and her mother, Hilda Oberg Russell (1864-1938) in 1885. Martin’s first job was as a lamp lighter in Chicago: this job required no knowledge of English. However he became fluent in English soon enough. He next worked for the administration of the Temperance Union, then became the Treasurer of the American School in Chicago, a post he held for 40 years.
Aggie attended one year of college at Dennison, following in her sister Ethel’s footsteps. In her second year, she decided not to continue at Dennison, and returned to Chicago where she earned a 2 year degree at the University of Chicago. As a student she had a nickname: “Cookie.” The name stuck; her Willson nieces and nephews recall referring to her as “Aunt Cookie.” Aggie attended and completed the Greig Secretarial Program, and for a while worked as a secretary in the office of the President of the University of Chicago. She enjoyed this job with its opportunities to meet and interact with upper level administrators and professors.
Aggie met her husband, Gordon Willson Bonner, at the University of Chicago. The two were wed on May 22, 1926. An oft-repeated and probably true assumption is that Aggie was impressed with Willson on at least two counts: he was from a well respected academic family, the son of an eminent classics professor, R.J. Bonner, and he seemed destined for financial success.
A letter from Zoe, a neighbor and family friend, recalls the Bonner household fondly. She wrote that the Bonner children constructed a crystal set radio together, and remembers a tin can telephone between her home and the Bonners. She enjoyed helping to pick currants in the Bonner’s “lovely back yard”, and admired Aggie’s weaving on a huge loom in the basement. In her memory, Aggie was “always in motion”.
The family had a difficult time after 1929. Gordon’s career as an investment banker ended because of new bank regulations, but he was able to find work over the next 20 years at various financial firms. Unfortunately he had a stroke at the very young age of 50, and died on Christmas Eve, 1951.
After her husband’s untimely death, Aggie continued working for the next 20 years, first in the Admissions Office of the University of Chicago, and later after 1965 as an Admissions Officer for Lake Erie College in Ohio. Each fall she would drive her Oldsmobile all over New England interviewing young women applying to the college. She was devoted to this work with young students. She loved her work in college admissions, and sometimes said that these were the happiest years of her life.
© 2013 W. Mullins