By ENOLA G. MOSLEY, Ed.D.

English Dept., Statesboro High School

Generation to generation – A calling to fulfill!  From grandmother to mother to daughter, greatness keeps repeating itself as each offspring adds a higher rung of success. 

So is it with Dr. Lella Gantt Bonds, a 30-year veteran humanitarian teacher and professor whose love and respect for her students has made her contributions to education phenomenal. From the segregated elementary classroom to a teacher-training laboratory school to the college lecture hall, she has done it all – successfully educating myriads of students and teachers.

Born in Beaufort County, South Carolina, Dr. Lella’s family embraced high spiritual, educational, and military values.  Her father, the late James Gantt, Sr., an army veteran, worked in the Federal Government’s water department. Her mother Theresa Simmons Gantt, a 40-year veteran elementary school teacher, was everyone’s “Momma Tee” and her catch phrase was “Moving on, moving on.”  

A picture of her mom’s strong hands appears in Sandy Dimke’s Hands (2010).  Yet this phrase on her teaching certificate from Beaufort County strengthened her even more: “Certified to teach in colored schools only.”  Sadly, obtaining her master’s degree from prestigious New York University only allowed her to teach in segregated schools. 

Growing up, Dr. Lella enjoyed crabbing and learning about life.  Accompanying their parents, she, along with sister Elaine, sister Jacqueline (deceased teacher) and brother James Williams Gantt, Jr. (deceased barber), all went on yearly summer trips mandated by their father who called it “exposure.”  As a result of her adventurous spirit, Dr. Lella has traveled to almost every state, including Hawaii, and Alaska and to Canada and overseas to Africa.  To sister Elaine, she was always “the responsible one” because “she always took the lead and led by example . . . She is caring, nurturing, and giving.”

A life of educating

Born in 1944, Dr. Lella was named after her civic-minded grandmother Lella Gantt.  She says that her childhood was “an innocent time of fun.”  She loved going to school because “her teachers were great.”  As a kindergartener, she attended Beaufort’s Izora Washington private school and later segregated Robert Smalls elementary, junior high and high school, graduating with honors. 

As an educator, Dr. Lella’s life mirrors her mother’s.  Even though her mother matriculated at Savannah State College for two years, both finished their undergraduate studies at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina (1966), earning bachelor’s degrees in early childhood education. Yes, they both taught elementary school.  At Benedict, Dr. Lella became a cheerleader and a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.  “Greater Service, Greater Progress” is their motto, which Dr. Lella epitomizes to the fullest.

Dr. Lella obtained her Master’s degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (1972), and later obtained her Specialist degree from Georgia Southern University (1976).  Leaving Georgia, she earned her Doctor of Education degree from the University of South Carolina (1987).  Obtaining higher education is her family’s legacy.

In 1967, she taught second grade for one year at Ridge Springs, S. C.  Next, was Wrens Elementary School in Wrens, Georgia.  It was a 40-student self-contained classroom, and she taught all subjects.  There were no discipline problems because the “children wanted to learn.”   Teaching from “passed down textbooks,” she said that “each class started off with a prayer.”  Happily, it was in Wrens where she met her husband of 57 years, Dr. Charles Wesley Bonds, II, marrying him in September 1968.

Next, she taught grades K-2 in Valdosta, GA, at West Gordon Elementary School (known as J. P. Beck); it was a POD school.  There were only four teachers.  Later, when her husband was offered employment in the School of Education at then Georgia Southern College, they moved to Statesboro.  While her husband worked at GSU, Dr. Lella had “a wonderful experience” teaching a combined third and fourth grade class for two years at the segregated Southside Elementary School in Screven County; its principal was Reverend Martin Bacon. 

Marvin Pittman and Georgia Southern

Later, she taught at the Marvin Pittman Laboratory School, leaving after 20 years. She was hired by Principal Ellis Wiley (later replaced by its first Black principal Johnny Tremble).  As a training site for teachers, it allowed them to observe her “child-centered approach” to teaching. As a result, in 1992, Dr. Lella became Marvin Pittman’s Teacher of the Year.  One of her memorable lessons involves her student-crafted book quilt. This quilt hung in Marvin Pitman’s library for years; many teachers flocked to marvel at it.  

In 1994, hired by Professor Jane Page, she taught Foundations of Education and Human Growth and Development classes at GSU.  Later, she and her husband Dr. Charles Bonds were recruited as Visiting Professors, traveling to Zululand University in Africa.  

Some remember her because the birth of GSU’s Nu Omicron Chapter Sorority, Inc., a sorority for Black females and a chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., is accredited to her insight.  Moreover, Dr. Lella has co-authored two books: “African-American Biographies in Bulloch County” and “Teachers of the Year.”  Today, she and her husband are co-founders of the Society for the Preservation of Black History and Culture. 

Before retiring in 1996 from GSU, Dr. Lella was recognized several times.  She received a Life Membership from the National Association of Laboratory Schools, a Membership Development Award from the Southeast Region of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (1994), and the GSU African American Caucus Award (shared with her husband) for 45 years of commitment to teaching. However, her greatest achievement is receiving the Deen Day Smith Service to Mankind Award in 1991. 

Other community service recognition includes the following: Black Women of Profession, Habitat for Humanity, Board member of the Regional Library, co-founder of the Bread Ministry (renamed the Food Bank Morning Outreach, dissolved), and Toys for Tots.  As an Eagle Wing Mom, she opened her home to numerous football players, preparing their meals and giving them academic and spiritual guidance.

Both her son, Charles Wesley Bonds, III, and his daughter Charlize Theresa Bonds adore her.  Charlize, a junior at Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C. says, “My grandmother is one of my biggest inspirations.  She has touched countless lives and believes in giving back, uplifting others, and leaving every space better than she found it. It is because of her influence and strength [that] I joined her sorority: Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.”  Charles simply adds, “That’s my mom!”

Church activity

A former member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Buford, S.C., she is currently a deaconess, a secretary, and former choir member at Original First African Baptist Church, Pastor Christopher Culbret officiating.  

Her church participation includes Veteran’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, Vacation Bible School and Willing Workers.  She has distributed Thanksgiving baskets, fellowshipped at nursing homes, and supported senior scholarships.  She received a Certificate of Recognition from Second Saint John Church (2024) for her outstanding service. Church member Loretha Farr-Best says that she is a true “disciple because she loves and cares for everyone— strangers, friends, and anyone in need.”  Evangelist Juanita Allen adds that “she is an inspiration, always ready and willing to assist.”  

She leaves these words of wisdom: “Make wise choices because one wrong choice can change your whole life” and to all teachers she says,  “Treat students with respect.”

Dr. Lella Theresa Bonds is an inspiration to us all. She leaves a legacy of educational excellence while possessing a true humanitarian spirit.  Keep leaving footprints in the sand, Dr. Lella, and others will surely follow.