was the first Black woman and among the first women hired by the Winston-Salem Police Department in 1952.

Their assignment was to check parking meters and write tickets. In 1966, the department started a Community Services Unit, one of the first of its kind in the country, and Bonner was assigned to the unit. Bonner was born in Lee County, S.C., and moved to Winston-Salem as a child to live with an older brother after her father died. She was a graduate of Atkins High School and attended Winston-Salem Teachers College, now Winston-Salem State University.

From her first office on Clark Avenue and later in various places in the city, she helped people with a variety of problems. In a 1966 interview, Bonner recounted some of the problems she and her unit saw in just the first three months it was in existence.

One was a man who had developed a heart condition and could no longer support his family. Bonner helped his wife find work and a less expensive place to live. She also found an elderly, homeless woman a place to live. Bonner retired from the police department in September 1982 after 30 years of service.

She told a reporter in a story about her retirement that when she was writing tickets, a man came up to her as she was writing a ticket for his illegally parked car. He became verbally abusive when she continued to write the ticket.

“I didn’t say anything. I kept doing what I was doing and when I got through with the ticket, I said, ‘Sir, do you feel better? Now, you have a nice day.’ “And I just hung the ticket on his windshield and kept walking.

“Years later, he said to me that he was just hoping I would have just said something so he could have actually punched me. I don’t much think he really wanted to do that, though.” Bonner said the man later told her that his life had changed after that day. “To me, that meant a lot,” Bonner said.

Bonner summed up her career at the police department by saying, “You can imagine that during a period of 30 years, you’ve helped some. You’ve hurt some, too … because I’ve had to do my duty as a police officer, although I’ve always tried to believe in teaching first, and penalizing later.”

Bonner died Jan. 12, 2000, at the age of 76.