Hal and Bonney Bancroft
Bonney had grown up in Oceanside, just North of San Diego, on her parent’s chicken ranch, and upon graduation from high school she also entered San Diego State. In 1953 she and Hal met and they married in 1957.
After graduating in 1956, with a BA degree Hal moved to San Anselmo, California to attend the San Francisco Theological Seminary. He qualified after 2 years for a Psychology Masters Degree and got a job as a Social Worker for Alameda County Welfare Department. His job for over 5 years there was the supervision of adolescent boys into foster homes.
It was about this time that Hal and Bonney had their second child and Hal decided that he needed to make more money to support the family so a career change was in order. He left the Welfare Department and went into Real Estate.
Hal was in contact with a college buddy and a couple of doctors and they decided to design and build a rehab center. The result was a facility that was state of the art and became the model for other like facilities.
Hal was ready for another career change, but before he could settle on something he was approached by the Martinez Community Hospital to become their administrator. He had been the administrator for Parkview so he was known and had a reputation in the industry. He was asked to put his experience to work creating a rehab program within the Martinez Hospital for physically handicapped young people who were not mentally handicapped. Prior to this all of the programs were for mentally deficient young people.
It is now 1978 and Hal decided to give his lifelong love of cars a chance. He says that from the age of 5 he has had an interest in cars, but either didn’t have the money or the time to do much about it. He and a friend established a car restoration shop with an early Ford V8 parts sales department. His partner wasn’t interested in the parts part of the business so Hal ran that part until the restoration end became so busy he didn’t have time for it anymore, and sold off the inventory to other parts dealers.
One of his friends working on developing electronics came up with an electronic device that measured moisture in soils. A new company was formed called Aquaterr. It wasn’t long before the business became so busy that there was no time for the restoration shop and Hal’s partner took it over.
Hal was the CEO of Aquaterr Instruments and over the next 20 years they established many dealers in the US and in foreign countries. They had 3 patents and 12 products. Hal did a lot of traveling to the mid-west to sell to the companies working with the various farm irrigation sprinklers. Hal and one of the other partners were ready to retire in 2001, so they sold the company to one of their customers.
Now to get back to his love affair with cars; in high school while he couldn’t afford his own he was very involved with the cars of his friends. While still in high school he and his mother purchased a 1940 Dodge 4 dr. and that was their first car. In 1958, he bought the ’32 Ford Cabriolet he still drives today. He and Bob Trueax stumbled onto the 1940 Dodge in a field and he bought it for $25. It is the same as the car he and his mother bought. In 1964 he acquired a low mileage ‘64 Studebaker Hawk, which he still has. Somewhere along the way he acquired a ’47 Cadillac that has been a long term work in progress. Another long-term project is the ’39 Ford Woodie, just waiting for the available time to finish it. A year ago he bought a ’36 Ford 4 Dr that has had a frame off restoration and only needs paint to finish. Finally there is the ’53 Ford PU that has been restored.
Bonney and Hal have a son and 3 daughters who have provided them with 13 grandchildren. All of the kids are spread around the country. Their son is a Captain with Northwest Airlines and lives in the Minneapolis area. Two of the daughters live up in the Seattle area, and the other daughter lives in Fresno. Their son Mark has completed the restoration on the Model T that Hal gave him when he was 14. Now he is more than ready to take over ownership of the ’32 Ford.
In 1976 when the kids were in school Bonney went to work at the Qantel computer company for the Marketing VP until 1989, when the company was sold. She then worked with a couple of small companies before joining Wind River, a software development company located in Alameda. She works full time as an executive assistant.
They attended the 2nd meeting and were among the first to join the Early Ford V8 Club in 1963. They joined the Redwood Region of CHVA at nearly it’s beginning. Recently they joined the Woodie Club. Over the years they have belonged to the Classic Car Club, Cadillac La-Salle Club and the Studebaker Drivers Club. While they have many good friends in other clubs they say that CHVA has always been a very friendly club and a great touring club.
Published in AAN March-April, 2008
