Wanda ("Vonnie") L. Pierce (née Bonk), 75, of Bedford, MA, died peacefully on September 9, 2018 in the care of her family, friends and hospice staff after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

Born to Stanley and Lucille Bonk on April 27, 1943, Wanda was raised along with her siblings in Franklin, NH.  Upon graduation from Franklin High School, Wanda attended the Katharine Gibbs School in Boston, MA, and subsequently accepted a job with the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, VA.

There she agreed, at the height of the Cold War, to accept her first assignment with the agency in Berlin, Germany, which would come as a surprise to no one given her sense of adventure and fearlessness in her youth.  Her stories of midnight operations to liaise with defectors crossing the Berlin Wall were something out of a spy novel.  Both her mother and father were eminently proud of her decision to serve her country in one of the most hazardous regions of the world at the time.  She also had the good fortune of traveling extensively in Europe during her time abroad, even learning to ski in the Swiss Alps.

Upon returning to the U.S. she had planned to move to California, when incidentally a travel exposition depicting typical New England landscapes moved her to tears, prompting her to cancel her plans and move to the Boston area to cure her homesickness.  After settling in Boston, Wanda joined the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., where she worked as a secretary and billing specialist for the remainder of her career.  She greatly cherished the friends she made during her time with the firm, many of whom have lovingly supported her in her time of greatest need.

After years of living in Boston, she moved to a family home in Bedford, MA, where she raised her only son and lived until her death.

Her interests included politics, travel, history, movies, walking with friends, and she was also an avid reader.  Wanda would never pass up the opportunity to have dinner in the North End, where she lived for a time while in Boston, or to visit the beach with her friends and family.  She was also an underappreciated and underutilized artist.  In retirement, Wanda's greatest passion was spending time with her two granddaughters.

Her sense of duty to others pervaded every aspect of her life.  Never did a moment go by when Wanda did not consider the needs of those closest to her.  This was evident in the way she constantly visited and cared for her mother, particularly when her mother was diagnosed with dementia.  Wanda was thought by all to be a kind, loving, genuine human being.

Wanda is predeceased by her father, Stanley Bonk; her mother, Lucille (Homans) Bonk; her brother, Robert Bonk; and her sister, Linda (Bonk) Perry. She is survived by her husband, Bruce Pierce, of Bedford, MA; her son, Joshua Pierce and his wife Emily Pierce, of Boston, MA; her grandchildren, Sylvia and Georgia Pierce; her sister, Patricia (Bonk) Hise, of North Yarmouth, ME; her brother, Stanley ("Pete") Bonk Jr., of Grantham, NH; her brother, Herbert Bonk, of East Andover, NH; and her sister Mary (Bonk) Yamauchi, of Queenstown, New Zealand.

Please join us at the Bedford Funeral Home at 167 Great Road in Bedford, MA, on Friday, September 21, 2018, to honor and remember Wanda beginning at 9:00 am.  A Celebration of Life service will begin at 10:00 am and will conclude at 10:45 am. Family will receive guests following the service until 12:00 noon.  A private burial with close family will be held in New Hampshire.

In lieu of gifts or flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance:

by mail at:

Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance
PO Box 32141
New York, NY 10087-2141

or

online at:

https://give.ocrfa.org/donate

Wanda's family would like to extend a special thank you to those who have been loving and supportive during her illness, especially towards the end of her life.  She expressed eternal gratitude to those who visited and assisted her throughout that difficult time.