Obituaries of note: Boniske, Verner

Nobody seems interested any longer in highlighting the deaths of local residents who have touched lives through their lives. So I’m compelled to highlight a couple of obituaries I’ve seen recently.

I saw this morning that H.M. “Ske” Boniske has died. The announcement is here.

Boniske was an outgoing, energetic man who was green long before green was cool. He was active with the WNC Green Building Council and worked hard to educate people about how cut back their energy usage and put into place environmentally friendly practices. He was a heckuva nice guy. I worked with him to get green building columns in the Citizen-Times. Here’s the announcement:

Asheville – A celebration of the life of H.M. Ske Boniske will be 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Coleman Place on the 3rd floor of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce Building, Montford Avenue. The Boniske family invites his many friends to attend and share their memories.

Yesterday, there was an obituary for Margaret “Danny” Verner. She also had an impact on her community.

Born in Andhra Pradesh, India, in 1923 to the Rev. Carl and Harriet Stimmel Oberdorfer, Lutheran missionaries, she grew up in South India, where she played with the local children and developed the compassion, the clear-eyed understanding of poverty and the love of justice that shaped her life and work.

…

Mrs. Verner saved her biggest project for last. Around the time the Verners moved permanently to their home in Montreat, in the North Carolina mountains, they attended a Leadership Swannanoa Valley course. During one session, an elementary school principal talked about issues facing local children that hindered their ability to learn: poverty, family dysfunction and other unmet needs. Danny Verner had found her project. With a commitment to early intervention for children and strengthening families, she, Dr. Verner and several other people who had heard the presentation founded the Swannanoa Valley Voice for Children. The SVVC developed plans for a program that included high-quality child care, family services, teacher education and health services. It ultimately partnered with Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa. Early cost estimates were sobering. More than once, Danny was told what she wanted to do was impossible. Yet with the help of Dr. Verner, the other board members and many friends and acquaintances, she raised $3.6 million, enough to pay for construction of the building and underwrite the first year of operation. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. attended the groundbreaking for the Mountain Area Child and Family Center on the Warren Wilson College campus. It opened in 2001 and now has three sites.