Groundhog Founder Bruce BonFleur Was a “Force That Could Make Things Happen”

Bruce BonFleur was a man who loved adventures and purpose-filled projects. One of the projects he was most proud of starting was “The Groundhog” in 1982.

The Groundhog founder, Bruce BonFleur (pictured with wife Marsha) passed away on Sept. 17.

Bruce passed away on Sept. 17, 2024, at his home in Mentone after an almost 2-year-long bout with an aggressive form of cancer. He was surrounded by the love of his family.

Born in 1951, Bruce was a native of Daytona Beach, Florida. As a young man, after canoeing and hiking through the Grand Canyon with his father, he heard about Alabama’s Little River Canyon. Intrigued by the fact that it was carved into the top of Lookout Mountain, he decided to check it out.

Impressed with the people he met during a visit to Mentone, he found a house on the brow south of town, where he created Cragsmere Manna Restaurant and Gardens. Cragsmere became well known for its upscale food prepared by Mike Minden, a former executive chef for Walt Disney. Leah Gordon tended the Cragsmere gardens, ensuring that the produce served to guests was freshly grown on the premises. Singing waiters and waitresses created an atmosphere that was both elegant and exciting.

“We became friends on the day I met him in 1981,” says Sandra Padgett. “Ray and I had dinner at Cragsmere Manna, and I was impressed with Bruce’s creativity. I knew he was a force that could make things happen. Bruce had a dream of ‘putting Mentone on the map.’ In the 1980s, Mentone had The Log Cabin Deli, Ruby’s Service Station, McGee’s Grocery, Mentone Inn, Blackburn’s Grocery, and the summer camps. That was the town.

“A few weeks after we met, Bruce called a meeting of local business owners,” Sandra says. “Ray and I had recently bought the Mentone Springs Hotel. Six of us met at a table in the hotel: the Rev. Charles McGee and his wife, Jean; Bernice Crow of The Hitching Post; Donna Buckley; Bruce; and myself. That was the beginning of the former Mentone Area Preservation Association (MAPA).

“This meeting spurred the creation of a typewritten, mimeographed newsletter designed to unite the community and create excitement,” says Sandra. “After a few issues, we decided that a newspaper would help our cause, and ‘The Groundhog’ was born.”

Bruce and Sandra also published the ‘Mountain View’ quarterly magazine for a year. “We created the ads using geotype dry transfer lettering, which required rubbing the letters individually on the format,” says Sandra. “Ray built us a light table to help with our efforts.

“A few months later, Bruce had the idea of bringing tourism from Birmingham and Montgomery. He sponsored a luncheon at Cragsmere, prepared by his world-class chef. We hired a limo to drive ‘Southern Living’ magazine’s travel editor, representatives from Alabama Tourism and PBS, and a Birmingham reporter to Mentone for a day. This resulted in two articles in ‘Southern Living,’ as well as several newspaper articles in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Chattanooga, and a great PBS program. Tourism was increasing!”

When financial difficulties caused Cragsmere Manna to close, Bruce found employment with the YMCA in Chattanooga. His journey eventually took him back to Daytona Beach, where he became a high school social studies and American history teacher at Warner Christian Academy. The school was run by the White Chapel Church of God, where Bruce met and married Marsha Moore.

The couple began dreaming of moving to Mentone, and when Sandra and Ray offered to rent them a small apartment in the Mentone Springs Hotel, their decision was made. Bruce rented space in the old Hitching Post building and opened a kayak and bicycle rental shop for tourists.

“Just when life had settled into a pleasant pace, I unexpectedly found out that, at age 40, I was expecting a baby,” says Marsha. “Genevieve was born in 1992. Not wanting her to be an only child, Brent was born in 1994, after we’d moved back to Daytona Beach.

“When a missionary from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota came to speak at a Wednesday night prayer meeting, he described the dire conditions of the Oglala Sioux Indians. Pine Ridge Reservation is the second most impoverished place in the western hemisphere, where the life expectancy is 46 years for women and only 42 years for men. Moved by those staggering statistics, Bruce took up a collection among the church members and sent the missionary home with a generous donation of the two things he said they needed most—Tylenol and socks.”

Bruce continued to correspond with the Pine Ridge missionary and learned of the need for teachers at a Christian school on the reservation. The BonFleurs and their children soon moved to the reservation, and Bruce became the principal of Pine Ridge Christian Academy, where Marsha taught high school students. When the director of the ministry that ran the school passed away three years later, the school closed.

“Most people would take that as God’s way of saying, ‘Good job. You’re free to go back to your normal lives,’” says Marsha. “Bruce, however, could never be accused of being ‘normal,’ and he chose to ‘jump from the frying pan into the fire.’ Just 2 miles from Pine Ridge was the state line in Nebraska and the infamous tiny town of Whiteclay, where four beer stores sold specially brewed beer that had a higher alcohol content than any other beer in the state. The four men who owned the stores had become wealthy at the expense of the Oglala Sioux people.”

Bruce dedicated the next four years of his life to meeting with Nebraska governors, attorneys general, liquor control boards, and senators. In the end, he was able to get the Nebraska Supreme Court to revoke the beer store licenses and close the liquor stores, ending more than a century of liquor sales in Whiteclay.

He opened a thrift store where people with no money could work in trade for the items they needed. He also created a praise and worship arbor where church groups from across the country came to worship with the Lakota people. “His efforts transformed the place that for decades had the nickname of ‘skid row on the prairie’ into a place of dignity and hope,” says Marsha.

Considering their mission accomplished, the couple returned to Mentone in 2018. It wasn’t long before Bruce had the urge to publish again and started ‘Mentone Trace Magazine,’ a monthly periodical focused on the local area.

“Recognizing that the income from advertisers was insufficient to cover the cost of the slick format he had chosen,” Marsha explains, “he switched to newsprint and changed the name to ‘The Trader’s Tab.’ The ‘Tab’ quickly evolved and covered parts of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee.”

Bruce’s service to the Mentone community will remain a strong part of his legacy. Loyal readers will forever have him to thank for beginning the town’s beloved ‘Groundhog,’ which has kept area residents connected, informed, and inspired for over four decades.

A memorial service for Bruce was held at Mentone Community Church in September. His family requests that any memorial donations be directed to a YMCA of your choice.