The former chair of the School of Communications Advisory Board and enthusiastic fan of Elon sports died August 2 at the age of 85.
Don Bolden, one of Elon’s most enthusiastic supporters and a recipient of the Elon Medallion, died August 2 in the care of hospice in Burlington, N.C. He was 85.
Bolden was a witness and recorder of decades of Alamance County news and history during a journalism career at the Burlington Times-News that spanned 51 years as a photographer, reporter and editor, and 60 years as a weekly columnist. He was the author of more than a dozen books about the history of Alamance County, its towns, communities and businesses. Upon his retirement from the Times-News in 2000 he was named the first and so far only editor emeritus in the newspaper’s more than 130-year history.
Elon President Connie Ledoux Book, who worked closely with Bolden for many years when he chaired the School of Communications Advisory Board, said he was a “dear friend” who will be greatly missed.
“Don was a constant advocate and champion for Elon University,” Book said. He believed deeply in our mission of educating young people. We will be forever in his debt for his many contributions to Elon and our wider community.”
“He was a leading editor in North Carolina for decades and the unequaled chronicler of Alamance County and its history,” said Paul Parsons, former dean of Elon’s School of Communications who worked closely with Bolden. “To use academic terminology, Don Bolden was both an A+ journalist and an A+ professional partner to Elon. He was an enormously important partner to Elon during its rise to national prominence. His wisdom, wit and good will propelled the school forward and will have a lasting impact on Elon.”
In 2010 Bolden was awarded the Elon Medallion in recognition of his long-term leadership as founding chair of the School of Communications Advisory Board. He and his late wife, Billie Faye ’56, were enthusiastic Phoenix fans and generous supporters of Elon athletics, creating the Don and Billie Bolden Basketball scholarship to provide annual assistance to deserving student-athletes.
Bolden, who often called Elon one of the most important assets of Alamance County, received the 2003 Distinguished Service Award from the Elon Alumni Association and was selected as a member of the Elon chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. Bolden’s endorsement of Elon was unwavering. In his final months he wrote a letter to the Burlington Times-News Open Forum asking that consideration be given to placing “Home of Elon University” on interstate signs welcoming people to Alamance County.
Bolden received numerous awards from the Associated Press and North Carolina Press Association, a national citation from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association and the Freedom Communications R.C. Hoiles Award. Many of those who worked under him at the Times-News went on to stellar careers at publications like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Tampa Tribune and Rolling Stone magazine. Many were Elon alumni, including Jo Craven McGinty ’85, who started her journalistic career at the Times-News and was later part of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting teams with the New York Times and Washington Post.
McGinty, whose first news beat was covering the city of Burlington, remembers Bolden’s calm and unflappable presence in the newsroom. “He oversaw stories large and small with the same aplomb, and he contributed to a sense of belonging, camaraderie and encouragement in the newsroom. The Times-News newsroom felt like a family, and like a wise patriarch, Don welcomed, and perhaps even celebrated, the eccentrics whose talents some might have overlooked,” said McGinty, who now works as a columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
McGinty said Bolden also created a culture that spawned equal opportunities for women in the newsroom in the mid-1980s when it wasn’t so common. “In the age of #metoo I think it’s important to note that Don’s character was above reproach, and as far as I could tell, there wasn’t even a sexist bone in his body. For a time I was the only woman reporting for the news pages. I wasn’t the first, and I wasn’t the last, and it was a complete non-issue. That tone, although embodied by others, was set at the top.”
While Bolden often singled out completion of the Alamance County War Memorial as one of his proudest accomplishments, during his lifetime he touched almost too many areas of the community to list. He served on countless civic leadership roles or boards including: The Alamance County Historical Museum, the Textile Heritage Museum in Glencoe, the former Elon Homes for Children, the Alamance-Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce, the Burlington Downtown Corporation, the Christian Counseling Center, the Jaycees, Crimestoppers, The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, and the Village at Brookwood. He had a longstanding affiliation with Hospice of Alamance-Caswell, was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and played a role in the creation of the Burlington School. He could arguably be called Alamance County’s Citizen Emeritus.
In celebration of his faithful service to his community, the Burlington City Council proclaimed March 29, 2013, Don Bolden Day in the city of Burlington and surprised Bolden with an event at City Hall and a reception afterward. He was named Alamance County Man of the Year in 1990, the American Business Women’s Boss of the Year in 1997 and was Boy Scouts Man of the Year in 2003. He was given the Duke Energy Citizenship and Service Award in 2014.
Bolden continued to write books about local history right up until 2018. His final book was part of the Images of America series, which focused on Elon—the town and university.
Arrangements in memory of Don Bolden are as follows:
- Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, at Rich and Thompson Funeral Home, 306 Glenwood Avenue, in Burlington
- A Celebration of Life will be held at 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 5, at First Baptist Church, 400 S. Broad Street, in Burlington
- A private burial will be held at a later date.
Condolences may be sent to the family in care of Mrs. Dolores Truitt, P.O. Box 1265, Elon, North Carolina 27244.
Contributed by Madison Taylor, development writer in Elon’s Office of University Advancement and retired Times-News executive editor.