Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

First lady, activist and ambassador Bonnie Bryan dies at 77

Former First Lady Bonnie Bryan

LAS VEGAS SUN ARCHIVES

Former Gov. Richard Bryan and first lady Bonnie Bryan are shown in an undated file photo.

Updated Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016 | 9 p.m.

Bonnie Bryan officially was first lady of Nevada from 1983 to 1989, but because of her many worthy deeds, her civic activism and her devotion to helping youths and the elderly, in spirit, she was a first lady for most of her adult life.

Bryan worked to improve medical care for the aged, boost education and safety for Nevada’s children, promote Nevada tourism, preserve the state's history and halt development of the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Bonnie Belinda Fairchild Bryan, who feverishly campaigned for Richard Bryan to become both governor of Nevada and a U.S. senator from Nevada, died today of leukemia in Las Vegas. She was 77.

Services are pending.

Former First Lady Bonnie Bryan Dies at 77

Former Gov. Richard Bryan and first lady Bonnie Bryan are shown in an undated file photo. Launch slideshow »

"We've known Bonnie Bryan for more than 50 years and she has always been the quintessential lady, friend and first lady in all she did and all whom she touched," Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said. "This is an enormous loss for the community, and she will be missed beyond words can express."

Nevada Democratic Rep. Dina Titus said, “A light went out in the Las Vegas firmament with the loss of Bonnie Bryan. Her effervescent nature, charming wit and generous heart will long be remembered. She set the gold standard.”

“As first lady, while raising her family, Bonnie was involved in many important causes,” UNLV associate history professor Michael Green said. “She continued to do so as a senator’s wife and after Richard retired from politics — not because she had to. She did it because she wanted to.

“Bonnie Bryan was an inquisitive, thinking and thoughtful person. She long remained our first lady and she was a great lady.”

In the 2009 book “100 Years in the Nevada Governor’s Mansion,” by Jack Harpster, former Nevada State Sen. Jean Ford, a longtime activist for women’s rights, called Bonnie Bryan “a fabulous person.”

“Bonnie is always willing to make their home available for socials that women’s groups might want to have,” Ford was quoted as saying in that book.

In her years as first lady and beyond, Bonnie Bryan:

• Oversaw a major renovation and modernization of the governor’s mansion, working closely with designers and architects to wisely and effectively spend tax dollars that were allocated by the Legislature to spruce up the historic building.

• Initiated Reno’s Safe Ride program, which encouraged teenagers who had been illegally drinking alcoholic beverages to call sober friends who would pick them up and drive them home safely.

• Initiated a program in which Nevada pharmacists would visit homes of the elderly and senior housing communities to provide prescription medicines that the recipients often could not afford on their fixed incomes.

• Worked diligently to keep Nevada in the public eye by serving as a de facto state historian, fielding thousands of phone calls from the news media and others seeking answers about Nevada’s history.

• Traveled thousands of miles worldwide to boost tourism in Nevada. (She earned the nickname “The Official Ambassador for Tourism.”)

• Was an early advocate for the creation of Nevada State College and long championed efforts to end illiteracy in Nevada — a cause that was near and dear to her heart as her late mother was a schoolteacher.

• Was a longtime member of the Junior League who played a major role in acquiring the historic Morelli House on the old Desert Inn Golf Course, rescuing it from being bulldozed and moving it to another location where it was preserved and used as the Junior League’s headquarters. (The house once was the stately residence of Sand’s orchestra conductor Antonio Morelli.)

All of those accomplishments, in Bonnie’s words, were an act of love.

“I love this state and I love working in it,” she told the Sun in a 1987 interview. “I love being a part of the whole process. What I would like to do is let more people know there is more to Nevada than gambling.”

As a political force, Bonnie worked to get her husband elected to every office he sought, was an advocate for annual Nevada Legislature sessions and supported restrictions on campaign spending.

She saw campaigning as a job for the entire family, noting in the 2009 governor’s mansion book, “We were in this together. He (Richard) is the candidate and it is up to him. But we are a package deal — all five of us (referring to the couple’s three children: Leslie, Blair and Richard Jr.).”

Bryan family spokesman Greg Ferraro said, “I know I speak for many Nevadans who saw Bonnie as a splendid example of a first lady and a superb role model for so many young people.

"A family favorite, Bonnie will be profoundly missed by her husband, her three children and their families, and her legion of friends. Her tireless work on behalf of our state won’t soon be forgotten," Ferraro said. "Married to Senator Bryan for 54 years, Bonnie, with her kindness and authentic warmth, left an indelible mark on the State she loved so much.”

Born June 24, 1939, in Lodi, Calif., the future Mrs. Bryan was named for her mother, Bonnie, who was the first of three generations to attend UNR. (A lifetime resident of Lodi, Bonnie Fairchild died in 2000 at age 94.)

The future Bonnie Bryan attended UNR where, in 1958, she met Richard, who then was running for student body president.

Richard Bryan had had political aspirations starting at a young age. Longtime casino owner Jack Binion, who had met Richard while both were in the fourth grade, once said that 9-year-old Bryan “already was running for governor!”

Richard had won political campaigns at Las Vegas High School, but the campaign for the college office had been a tough one where the then-21-year-old Richard had to scrap for every vote he could get. Friends told him it might improve his image if he dated a sorority girl. He asked out Bonnie Fairchild, a Theta, and the two went to a dance.

Bryan won the student election and won the heart of Miss Fairchild. They married on Sept. 1, 1962, in Lodi.

“I've been following him around ever since,” Bonnie Bryan told the Sun in 2000 as Bryan was preparing to leave the U.S. Senate the following January. (He had declared in February of 1999 that he would not seek a third term in that office.)

Some of Richard’s strongest political views were Bonnie’s strongest issues, as well. Among them was the fight to keep the nuclear dump out of Nevada. While Richard Bryan may best be remembered by Nevadans for his work in Congress as an anti-Yucca dump crusader, Bonnie was no less involved in the movement.

In 2000, Bonnie joined the anti-nuke dump nonprofit organization Citizens Against Nuclear Waste in Nevada to heighten awareness of the state's fight and rally support around the country, and she became the group’s secretary.

It was a turbulent time in Nevada’s history as Yucca Mountain was the only site under study to accept 77,000 tons of deadly radioactive waste from nuclear plants around the country — and it was a foregone conclusion among numerous advocates that the project would come to fruition. The Bryans were among many Nevadans to take up the cause to successfully halt the project.

When Bryan decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 1988, Bonnie asked him not to because she wanted to remain in Nevada and raise their children here. When he went ahead with his Senate race, she and the children campaigned long and hard to help him get elected even though it meant they would have to relocate to the nation’s capital.

Twelve years later, Bonnie, who all the while had continued with her efforts to improve conditions for children and seniors in Nevada, advised her husband not to leave the Senate because she also had become enthralled with Washington, D.C.

After 12 years of flying back to Nevada every weekend, Bonnie still wanted to explore the East Coast and see more of Washington. She gave her husband a list of reasons to stay, even noting that he could boost his pension with another six years.

“He just looked at me and said, ‘All these things you say are true. I just know in my heart it’s time to go home.’ ” Bonnie said in the 2000 Sun story.

Richard Bryan reportedly was tired of Washington and wanted to put his law degree to use in a prestigious Las Vegas law firm. He also wanted to spend more time with his three children and his three grandchildren, who all were born in 1999.

Bonnie stood beside her husband as he announced the end of his political career.

Fighting back tears, she bravely faced reporters and mused, “I told him, ‘Don’t count on me for lunch every day.’ He has to get a job.”

Bonnie spent her later years continuing her work with the Junior League and other organizations to improve the conditions of all Nevadans. And of course, she enjoyed being on Richard’s arm as they attended numerous formal charity soirees.

Stories in the Sun’s online archives run on for several pages, telling of the numerous events at which the couple was spotted or served as hosts or guests of honor.

At Mardi Gras 2003 — billed as “an enchanting evening to benefit HELP of Southern Nevada” — Richard and Bonnie were crowned king and queen of the ball at The Orleans.

Bonnie Bryan also served as a longtime member of the UNR Alumni Council.

Bryan’s survivors include her husband, three children and grandchildren.

Ed Koch is a former longtime Las Vegas Sun reporter.

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