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SIERRA VISTA — A quest for reconciliation with his past led a California man on a path to his birthplace of Tombstone.
With many fences to mend, Bill Bright thought he had crossed every name off of his list. But as he wrestled with his conscience, he could not ignore the fact that he had not spoken to his father in three decades.
“And God made it quite apparent that there’s one more name on that list. That was my dad. Bill Bone,” Bright said during a recent message from the pulpit at Life In Christ Church, 2300 Las Brisas Way.
Bright was 4 years old when divorce shattered his world. His mother, Lois, had custody and moved to Tucson. Dad, a longtime teacher at Tombstone High School, made the trek every other weekend to exercise his visitation rights.
 Bill Bone, center, is flanked by his grandson, Beau Bright, left, and Bone’s son, Bill Bright. Bill Bone and his son, Bill Bright, got back together after many years of estrangement. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review) |
“Now, when I was about the age of 5 1/2, my mom, for whatever reason, decided to take those rights from him,” Bright said. “So, there I was on the stoop, on the front porch, waiting for daddy, and he didn’t show. Now for whatever reason, my mom did not choose to tell me why he did not show. I was left with the perception that he didn’t want to show, that he didn’t love me, that I was bad.”
He was adopted by his stepfather. Thus, his last name changed to Bright. The family moved to California. Bill Bright would not see his biological father again until 1994.
Bright was 36 years old, married to Paula and had two young sons. The family traveled to Tombstone to find Bill Bone.
They walked up and down Allen Street. They stopped at a store and had souvenir photos taken. The employee taking care of them, an older woman named Mary, asked Bright, “So what brings you to Tombstone?”
Bright said, “I was born here, actually. And I came back to reconcile with my father.”
The woman studied his face and said, “You must be terribly anxious and worried.” She grasped the hands of Bill and Paula and reassured them.
The encouragement from this woman, whom Bright describes as an angel, provided the nudge he needed, and the son went on to his father’s house and knocked on the door. The reunion would prove to be a beautiful thing.
Bright introduced his wife and sons to Bill Bone, who would later take them all around town and introduce them to everyone.
“Because he’s been there forever,” Bright said. Everybody knows Bill Bone. Most of them had been taught by him, and their sons and grandsons. So they comped us on everything … the O.K. Corral … the stagecoach ride … and he was just so proud … he was proud as a peacock.”
Later, the two men sat alone on a bench.
“And I asked him for forgiveness, and he me,” Bright said. The son apologized for his lack of effort to contact his father, and vice versa. “But we forgave each other for those things. We cried. We laughed. We cried some more.”
Bright learned many things about his father’s life in Tombstone, including the fact that he had once served as the men’s director in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Today, the son wears that same title.
Bright is the men’s director at Shiloh Christian Ministries in Sierra Vista.
Bright is 50 years old. His family moved to Sierra Vista on Aug. 2, 2002, from Half Moon Bay, Calif. Bright’s sons are Beau, 18, and Jesse, 16.
Bill Bone is 78 years old and lives in Sierra Vista. He has lived in Southern Arizona most of his life, after his parents moved here during the Great Depression. He grew up in Willcox. He has taught all subjects in Tombstone, working there from 1952 to 1992.
“I missed out on all the years of his childhood,” Bone said. He thought about him “just about every day.”
The thing that kept the father going was that he knew someday the two would reconnect.
“You don’t forget someone like that,” Bone said. “It’s quite a good thing to get him back into my life after not knowing where he was for so many years.”
Bright’s mother is deceased. He long ago forgave her for whatever decisions she felt she had to make in the past that affected the family. He has accepted that whatever went wrong in his parents’ marriage was their business and nobody else’s, even his. The Fifth Commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother,” he said, does not add a clause that negates the commandment if mom or dad screws up.
HERALD/REVIEW City Editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
HEALING PAST WOUNDS
Bill Bright, men’s director at Shiloh Christian Ministries has organized an upcoming 24-session educational series, The Quest for Authentic Manhood. It will start Tuesday and be held every Tuesday, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., through Nov. 18 at Oasis Foursquare Church, 4701 E. Highway 90. There is a $12 workbook fee.
Topics to be covered will include:
• Seasons of a Man’s Life
• Uncovering a Man’s Wounds
• Defining Manhood
• Deepening the Marriage Relationship
• Raising Sons and Daughters
• Developing a Manhood Plan
The course is sponsored by The Brothers’ Keepers, a national movement connected to Promise Keepers.
For information, contact Bright at 452-0434 or bright4him@earthlink.net.
Ben wrote on Aug 26, 2008 11:00 AM:
You may not find this story interesting, but you're not the only person in the world. If social news stories aren't your cup of tea, there are plenty of impersonal news stories out there for you. You don't need to insult a writer for noting some of the relatively smaller joys in life. "