Bonnie aldinger kayaking, April 2021, by carolina salguero

PortSide thanks to Bonnie Aldinger

We were devastated when breast cancer felled Bonnie Aldinger on 1/12/22. She was a friend, an inspiration, and one of PortSide’s longest-standing volunteers and supporters, having got in touch due to our Kayak Valet event in 2006. Over the following 16 years, she volunteered, donated, and supported us with blogposts and free photo services. She was a radiant light of eternal good cheer, smart, principled, hardworking, a fighter for social justice. After she passed, we learned that she bequeathed $9,147 to PortSide NewYork. Thank you, Bonnie! You are so missed!

Please read more about her in our our tribute below.

Bonnie is on the table in the galley of the mary whalen

Originally, Bonnie’s creative outpouring went into the blog Frogma here, but she used Facebook more after a Wordpress redesign.
Bonnie’s own Facebook page remains as a legacy here.
Bonnie was a member of the wonderful Sebago Canoe Club. They memorialized her on May 21, 2022, and we attended instead of running TankerTours that day, the date our ship MARY A. WHALEN was launched. A summary of their deeply moving Bonnie memorial activities is below our tribute.

PortSide tribute to Bonnie Aldinger

Copying text from our January 14, 2022 Facebook post below. That post is here if you want to share it or see the moving comments of appreciation there.

NY harbor has many lights, and one has just gone out.

Bonnie K. Aldinger’s writing and photography illuminated the harbor, and Bonnie has transitioned to the Sebago in the sky.

Bonnie got in touch with PortSide in 2006 when she heard we were running a Kayak Valet event, the K word getting her attention. Since then, she volunteered here on physical tasks and supported us via so many blogposts.

Bonnie was all over the harbor for years and is beloved because of her radiant positivity while involved with waterfront nonprofits, businesses, boat clubs, and list serves. She had an endlessly upbeat approach to everyone and everything everywhere. She worked for Classic Harbor Line, volunteered many places, was a devoted member of the Sebago Canoe Club, and on her own, kayaked and camped down hundreds of miles of the Hudson River.

She was propelled by more than her paddle on those trips; she was propelled by joy and curiosity, and she then shared that with the rest of us in words and photos on her blog www.frogma.blogspot.com and Facebook page.

Fish, birds, water, weather, the skies, sunsets, boats of all kinds, the history and the future of the harbor, and seals sparked her enthusiasm. Did anything not? And flowers and food; don’t forget the food! Lots of posts about growing and cooking food.

April last year, weakened when her cancer recurred in March, Bonnie still wanted to get out on the water. I picked her up in a borrowed car; she was avoiding public transportation to protect her immune system ravaged by cancer and chemo. She wanted to see seals in Jamaica Bay. She wasn’t sure she could paddle that far. She made it, they were there, and she was jubilant. She probably would have been jubilant even if they weren’t there as enthusiasm was her engine.

She inspired me to start kayaking. I will be grateful for that for the rest of my life. PortSide’s yellow kayak will now be named BONNIE, and I hope we can inject Bonnie’s love of kayaking into others via that boat.

Bonnie was from Hawaii, and though not native Hawaiian, she expressed perfectly their term of aloha: “Aloha is an essence of being: love, peace, compassion, and a mutual understanding of respect. Aloha means living in harmony with the people and land around you with mercy, sympathy, grace, and kindness. When greeting another person with aloha, there is mutual regard and affection. This extends with warmth in caring for the other with no obligation to receive anything in return. The direct translation from Hawaiian to English is the presence of divine breath."

In the last days of December, she started home hospice without announcing that publicly, and posted joyful reminiscences on Facebook. Then, on 12/29/21, Bonnie revealed on Facebook that her end was near, apologizing for not being able to respond to everyone in this time and not wanting to be a downer “I have been trying not to make a big deal of it here on FB and also trying to keep things cheerful.” Love gushed back in the comments, and Elel Calabasas spoke for us all saying, “Bonnie, I have NEVER seen your strength, positivity, and pure aloha matched anywhere. You are forever the ichiban numero uno top banana of awesome. ”

She made her last post on 1/8/22, updating her cover photo with a shot she took showing her kayak bow heading out into Jamaica Bay with a flock of paddlers. I took it as a post expressing that she was leaving on her last voyage. Joy, excitement, sharing, caring for others, even in her last days.

She showed us how to kayak, and she showed us how to travel that last stretch of life.

With love and admiration forever, Carolina Salguero

Photos of Bonnie at PortSide below: stopping by at the end of her solo 7-day paddle down the Hudson. Three photos of her., dirty, busy and happy, helping move vintage engine parts from the Pier 9B warehouse onto our ship in preparation for moving to Pier 11.

posted 140817 end of 7 day paddle down Hudson.jpg

Sebago Canoe Club Tribute to Bonnie Aldinger, May 21, 2022

May 21, 2022 was an emotional day at Sebago, their season opening day was dedicated to Bonnie Aldinger.

There were two paddling trips leaving in the morning, followed by lunch with rememberances, and a ceremony on the floating dock. Many people created ways to memorialize Bonnie Aldinger. Her blog name FROGMA was put on a sail. Vicki brought a plate of sea shells from around the world and invited people to toss one into the water as they thought about Bonnie. One of her friends in the Irish music scene played music as we queued up for the buffet. Our ED Carolina Salguero remembered Bonnie’s excitement about the Hawaiian sailing canoe Hokulea coming to NYC and made a Polynesian sailing canoe model out of driftwood and natural materials that would decay into the Jamaica Bay Bonnie loved so much.

Conversations were long, deep, and loving, and many stories were shared.