Bonnie Dru Musto

On February 29th 1956, Ruth Drucilla and Samuel James Mangus welcomed their first of four girls into the world in Baltimore. As a child in a military family, Bonnie moved often, including Valley Forge, Tacoma, and Yorktown.

The family was fond of Saint Bernard dogs, so Bonnie learned early on in life to manage large animals. During Junior High School, Bonnie could be spotted in a crowd sporting her winged glasses. It was in San Antonio where Bonnie learned to ride horses from a retired cavalry officer. She loved trail riding and jumping. Her sisters Paula and Vanessa (Ruthie was not born yet) sometimes joined her in her equestrian activities.

She began her high school career at York High School near Ft. Eustis in Virginia, but was redeployed with her family and finished up in Frankfurt Germany, where she liked to tour the museums. Next, she studied at the University of Maryland in Munich. Later, at the University of Puget Sound she met Steven Musto who she fancied and they went on geology study field trips together. Bonnie became an Air Force family member when she married Steven in 1980 at Ft. Monroe.

Bonnie earned her Masters Degree in Education and was proud to teach at Gloucester High School with her good friend, Jennifer Carver. Bonnie had her first son Jason while stationed at Wright Patterson and shortly after was deployed to Dayton then Mountain Home, Idaho where Maxwell was born. Out in Idaho Bonnie was able to own and ride multiple horses, and the family spent a lot of time repairing, maintaining, and utilizing the stables at Mountain Home AFB. The family later moved to sunny California where Bonnie was a high school teacher and was active in the boys' Cub Scouts activities and cared for the family home and pets, as she always did so diligently.

After all of the moving, Bonnie was very happy to learn their next deployment would bring her back to Virginia and closer to her parents and sisters. So the family packed up for Northern Virginia. Bonnie taught in multiple capacities through the years in Virginia, as a school teacher, as a dog trainer, and as a dog owner trainer. One of her favorite teaching assignments was at Hilton High, where she met her friend Cathy. Her sons had lots of friends to whom Bonnie was like a second mom. The family had a lot of adventures during their Northern Virginia stay including Boy Scouts outings, horse riding, Saint Bernard dog shows, and travel which included a trip to England.

Bonnie put in her time as an educator and was happy to retire and move to a more relaxed area, so in the late 2010s, she and Steve began to explore North Carolina. They re-settled in laid-back New Bern, NC and began to enjoy their retirement. She and Steve had a lovely house built in New Bern where she could spend her time beautifying her garden, crafting, sewing, training dogs, training people, and loving on her pets. Bonnie loved gathering here with her family and friends in her gigantic kitchen and making tasty new treats and meals for everybody.

Bonnie enjoyed her time here, and we her family and friends, look back on our time together with great fondness. Bonnie moved on to a well earned rest after raising a great family and educating thousands.