I  was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in the spring of 1953 on May the twenty-second.  My only older sibling was my brother Jerry.  My Father and Mother Al and Anna Mae Bono had one more child in Cincinnati and it was my sister, Rose Marie.

I would walk to her grandparent's house a lot, and  stay overnight there with her best friend, Annette. They had tons of fun sleeping on the floor 

(kind of like camping ou ).  Aunt Marilyn lived with my grandparents as well and was like a second mother to me.

I was raised Catholic, and lived right behind the Catholic school as well as the church our family attended. I thought that was pretty neat!  In school I remembered having recess, and my other schoolmates and I would play Tarzan and Jane and the Flintstones. I also took ballet lessons which I enjoyed very much!  I had my first communion in second grade. Once one of my teachers was getting married so the teacher decided to have a contest. The girls had to write out the reason they would like to be a flower girl at the wedding. I was chosen.  It was a wonderful wedding!  At 

times My grandparents and I would go to a chapel called Friarhurst.  It was interesting to me because it was just a small chapel and considerably different from the church and  it was kind of an adventure to go there.  It's also interesting that in the same year John F. Kennedy was assassinated My grandmother died of Cancer.

About the time I was in the third or fourth grade the family moved to Milford, Ohio which was about 17 miles from Cincinnati and about 15 minutes from where we lived previously. Two younger brothers, Michael and Tony were born there.  On Sunday afternoons the family would go to our Dad's parent's house. They usually had a light meal there.  Back home we would play hide and seek and kick the can. 

One of the fond memories was the times our family went to Coney Island and the Cincinnati Zoo together.  Our family was close and did almost everything together, and aunt Marilyn would be there a lot as well.  My Dad and Mom were careful in raising us as we grew up until my teen years.