The Oak Ridge Boys’ beloved Joe Bonsall died one year ago today.
A member of the Oak Ridge Boys since 1973, Bonsall was the famed voice on the vocal group’s signature song “Elvira.” The Oak Ridge Boys are members of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. They’re beloved for their infectious songs, distinct harmonies, welcoming smiles, and kind hearts.
Bonsall retired from touring with the group in January of 2024 due to ALS, although he didn’t reveal the disease at the time. He died seven months later.
A partial obituary endorsed by the band read: “As a 50-year member of the American music group, The Oak Ridge Boys, Joe was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and inducted into the Philadelphia Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and the prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame.”
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Joe Bonsall Didn’t Want a Funeral
It also noted that Bonsall is the author of 11 books and that he loved to sing, read, play banjo, work on the farm, and cheer on his Philadelphia Phillies.
“But Jesus and his family always came first—and we will see him again on the Promised Day,” the Oaks post stated.
At his request, Bonsall didn’t have a funeral. He asked that instead of flowers, fans and loved ones make donations to The ALS Association or the Vanderbilt Medical Center ALS and Neuroscience Research Center.
Bonsall’s wife, Mary, and his daughter, Sabrina, invited me to their home on Nashville’s Old Hickory Lake to share stories and memories. While there, they explained how Bonsall initially discovered his health might be failing.
Seated on the Haverty’s sofa overlooking the lake, Mary remembered the first signs of her husband’s ALS started when he was cutting down a limb that had fallen and bounced off the house.
Joe Bonsall Noticed ALS Symptoms During Yard Work
“He was carrying the pieces into the front, and he noticed one of his legs was just a little off,” she explained, Bonsall’s motorized chair still within arm’s reach. “He said, ‘Mary, something’s wrong.’”
Then he slipped, getting out of the shower. The family doctor told him he thought he hurt his back. She says it took him about two years to get a diagnosis.
Bonsall did everything he could to stay on stage and keep performing. Mary said they had special braces made for his legs. Toward the end of his touring days, he sang from a stool. However, even the ALS couldn’t dampen his spirit. Bonsall kept singing, often stomping his foot and pumping his arm over his head.
Before he died, the singer completed his final book, I See Myself: Musings and Memories of a Blessed Life. He signed off on the book the week before he died. Fidelis Publishing released the title in November.
Bonsall described the book as a “collection of visions as I have searched through my mental archives, and they have manifested themselves, reminding me of a life well lived. I have simply followed the leads and written stuff down.”
“A Collection of Visions”
Mary said when Bonsall couldn’t sing anymore, he refocused on his book.
“He had written a few notes here and there down and kept them,” she said. “He had a few things to bounce off of, but that also kept him busy and his mind off of things, especially that last year.”
The singer maintained his sense of humor all the way to the end of his life. His family positioned a hospital bed in the basement living room, which is surrounded by windows overlooking the lake. Joe had a really rough patch a couple of days before he died, and Mary called in their family and fellow Oak Ridge Boy Duane Allen to be by Bonsall’s side.
Sabrina remembers he had his eyes closed, and those closest to him were sitting around his bed in the living room.
“He wakes up and he’s like, ‘What’s going on?’” Sabrina said. “Jen (Bonsall’s other daughter) is there, and she’s like, ‘Well, Daddy, you seemed like you were not having a good day. You haven’t been conscious.’ And he goes, ‘Is this the part where I go?’”
Open the Doors for the Angels
Mary still talks to her husband every day, and his motorized chairs are still where he left them. She noted that Barney, one of their beloved cats, sleeps in the seat. The only thing of her husband’s she’s been able to part with is his toothbrush. She doesn’t know if his spirit is still in the house, but she wanted to make sure that after all the suffering he endured, he could easily slip out.
“I said, ‘Make sure you open the doors,’” she recalled her instructions if Bonsall died when she wasn’t in the room. “I didn’t want anything stopping his spirit from leaving. ‘If the angels want to guide him out of here, I want them to have an easy job of doing it.’”
(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)
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