Rhomine G. Bonker is the proprietor of the Santa Fe Trail Garage, located in Pueblo, and in the conduct of the business displays a spirit of enterprise which, coupled with close application and indefatigable energy, is winning for him substantial and well merited success. Mr. Bonker is a native son of Michigan, his birth having occurred at Eaton Rapids on the 11th of May, 1875, his parents being O. H. and Julia Sweezy Bonker, both of whom have passed away, having spent their last days, however, in Colorado, where the father engaged in carpentering and building.

Rhomine G. Bonker pursued his education in the public schools and in the school of experience has learned many valuable lessons which have been of great worth to him in the conduct of his business. He has ever retained a receptive mind, so that he has continually added to his knowledge, and he displayed marked ability in imparting to others the knowledge that he had acquired, during seventeen terms in which he engaged in teaching. He followed the profession in Alma, Wisconsin, and also in North Dakota. In 1901 he came to Colorado, where he engaged in railroad work for a few years. He had previously learned the plumbing trade and was master plumber with the railroad company for a period of twelve years. In the fall of 1917 he purchased his present business in Pueblo in connection with a partner and. winning success in the undertaking, he has since purchased the interest of his partner in the business, which he is now carrying on independently under the style of the Santa Fe Trail Garage. He has a large service department, does vulcanizing and all kinds of repairing and handles tires and other automobile accessories. The growth of his business is indicated in the fact that he now employs six men and he has a large and well equipped garage, the floor space being eighty-eight by one hundred and twenty feet, with a storage capacity for one hundred cars. He makes every effort to thoroughly accommodate his patrons and care for their interests and his uniform courtesy as well as his capability constitutes one of the elements in his growing patronage.

On the 21st of September. 1904. Mr. Bonker was united in marriage to Miss Nora Cox, and though they have had no children of their own, they have reared three boys, one of whom is now connected with the navy, while one is an electrician in Colorado mines and a third is in high school.

In politics Mr. Bonker has always maintained an independent course, considering the capability of the candidate rather than his party ties. His religious faith is that of the Baptist church, to which he loyally adheres, and he is interested in all that has to do with the public welfare of Pueblo and this section of the state, cooperating in many well defined plans and movements for the general good.  

Source: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, History of Colorado, volume III.  Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1918.

Contributed by Joy Fisher (Dec08)