Native son of Belleville honored with street naming

(Continued from Page 1)

High School, the mayor and several members of the township council.

Mayor Michael Melham said Belleville is a different place today, acknowledging what Bunch went through.

“We honor you today not only for what you have become but what you have overcome,” Melham said.

Councilman Steve Rovell recalled meeting Bunch while visiting his Uncle Fred and Aunt Mildred, who shared a backyard fence with the Bunch family. They were both in elementary school at the time.

Rovell talked about seeing Bunch on a History Channel television show and realizing the enormity of what his old friend had accomplished.

“I started to realize how important Lonnie had become to our country’s narrative,” Rovell said.

When he spoke, Bunch described himself as a guy from Beech Street and a kid from Belleville.

He thanked friends and family for being there with a particular shout out to fellow members of the Class of

1970 who were in attendance. A graduate of the Belleville High School Class of 1970, Bunch played football and baseball and said he is still in touch with some of his former classmates.

“It was a really interesting time,” Bunch said of the era.

There are no Bunchs left in Belleville but his younger brother still lives in New Jersey. His mother lives near him in the Washington, D.C., area.

His life these days encompasses 10 to 12 meetings a day, some on Zoom, others in person.

“I spend a lot of time getting to know and being supportive of each museum and research center,” Bunch said. “I also like to talk to university students and I make sure I’m still doing history.”

Bunch has written on topics ranging from the American presidency to the Black military experience and African American History in California. Among his many awards, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House in 2002 and reappointed by President Barack

Obama in 2010. In 2019, he was awarded the Freedom Medal, one of the Four Freedom Awards from the Roosevelt Institute, for his contribution to American culture as a historian and storyteller.

Bunch said he learned many things in Belleville that have stayed with him through the years.

“I learned how to fight here, but also when to run and how to talk my way out of it,” Bunch said.

But, he also learned what it was like to have a great group of friends from a different background. How to kick back with your buddies and sing goofy songs. How to play football on the sandlots. How to swear in Sicilian.

“At 17, all I wanted to do was get out of Beech Street. And at 70, all I want to do is come back,” Bunch said. “There’s nothing more powerful than having your hometown greet you. I have gotten awards from around the world, but nothing, nothing, matters as much as this today. So, I want to thank you for giving me something that I will always remember.”