Somewhere, maybe lurking in the back of a closet in Jerry Bonner’s house, they are there.

No, not skeletons.

They are a 10-year-old set of brand new golf clubs that never have met the fresh air of a golf course.

In 1997, right about the time Bonner was getting ready to retire from his 31-year career in information technologies at Monsano, he thought he soon would have plenty of time to hit the links and perfect his swing.

But ever since Bonner left the job behind, those clubs have stayed on a back shelf while Bonner has pursued a different kind of work — giving his time and energy to causes around Cullman.

In fact, you might say Bonner, a Cullman County native who grew up in Welti and attended Fairview High School, is a professional volunteer.

These past weeks, Christmas Love has been Bonner’s full time job. Even before he retired, Bonner started volunteering with the organization that provides food and gifts to those in need. This is his second year to be in charge of providing food to those who might otherwise do without.

“I volunteer for a lot of stuff, but this is a real good program for needy people in the area,” Bonner said. “I enjoy being able to do that. I waited all these years and worked, hoping that when retired I would be able to do things like this.”

“Things like this” also includes work with the Cullman Lions Club. Bonner, a member since 1964, is also president of the Fair Association. That means that this past July, until two weeks after the Cullman County Fair was over, he worked five days a week, eight or more hours a day, getting ready for the county’s biggest event.

“Most of the time I worked full time at the fairgrounds, then I went straight into Christmas Love,” Bonner said.

Usually Bonner’s wife Shirley pitches in, too, but this year she is recuperating from back surgery and so has had to limit her involvement.

In what downtime Bonner can carve out of his volunteering schedule, he and Shirley frequently travel to Atlanta to visit their two daughters, their 5-year-old grandson and their 3-year-old granddaughter.

“Last week I had to bug out so I wouldn’t miss their Christmas program,” Bonner said.

He also hasn’t left his work in information technologies too far behind.

“My wife says I spend all my time on the computer at home,” he said. “It’s all I’ve ever done. If my computer goes down, I’m lost.”

Much of his computer work is in genealogy. Bonner has wound his way through 2,600 families in his ancestry, tracing the Bonners back to 1644 in England.

Along the way, Bonner found copies of papers from when an ancestor was paid when he was released from the Revolutionary War, and he learned that a several-great-uncle, a sheriff in south Alabama, was killed by Creek Indians, starting the Creek Indian War. However, his other side of the family, the Harrises, are another matter.

“We have a problem with Grandpa Harris,” he said. Apparently Bonner’s Great-Grandpa Harris owned a sawmill, and back in the 1800s he got into a fight with a man, hit the man in the back of the head and killed him.

“They hanged him three days later, so we have a problem getting information from him,” Bonner said.

Bonner did learn that he is related to almost everyone in this area through the Harris side of the family. In fact, when his first cousin’s son married a few months ago, Bonner discovered that the bride was a very distant cousin.

“I had to kid him that now he’s a true redneck – he married his cousin,” Bonner said.

As much as Bonner enjoys his work with genealogy and his time spent with family, he finds it rewarding to devote so much of his time to volunteer efforts.

“I enjoy knowing I am able to help somebody,” Bonner said. “When you meet somebody who is appreciative of what you are trying to do, it makes you feel good.”

He thinks back to the President’s address just after Hurricane Katrina, when President Bush asked for volunteers.

“The government cannot support everybody who needs help,” Bonner said. “The churches and civic organizations are where a lot of the help has got to be. People have got to know they have got to help each other.”