A real-life James Bond still a lady-killer at age 82

The ladies love me 'cause I'm pure mischief," James Bond says, a boyish grin spreading across his 82-year-old face, reports Lawrence Journal World.

Across the kitchen counter, Bonnie Bond struggles to swallow her coffee while laughing.
"Some things never change," she says. "Jim's been stirring up trouble since we met."
The Lawrence couple has been married for 56 years. James, who usually goes by Jim, clearly remembers the day he met Bonnie, 74.

"I hadn't been back from serving in (World War II) for very long, and a buddy of mine and I decided to take a drive to Valley Falls on a Sunday afternoon," says Bond, who was born in Farmington and grew up on his parents' farm outside of Nortonville. "He knew a nice girl up there, so we decided to go pick up her and her friend."
That friend, as fate would have it, was Bonnie.

"I really wasn't terribly impressed," Bonnie says, describing her first impression of her future husband. "He had a nice way about him, but he was no James Bond."
Jim turns to Bonnie with a questioning look.
"Oh, you know what I mean!" she says, playfully swatting the air in his direction.

As their comedic timing -- now finely-tuned -- indicates, the pair hit off and started "going steady" soon after that chance Sunday meeting.

"Bonnie's dad went to Nortonville and did a little checking on me first," Jim says. "But lucky for me, he talked to the right people."
And on Feb. 28, 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Bond tied the knot and made it official.

"He went and robbed the cradle good," Bonnie says. "I was 18 when we got married, and he was 26."
"What I went and did was go from one war right into another," Jim says, promptly earning another swat.
Will the real James Bond please stand up?
Still a polished flirt with deadpan wit, Jim says he likes to think his famous name carries some significance.
"Well, I was around before those dang secret agent movies," he says. "Maybe I was the inspiration for Bond; you never know."

"I think Connery was the best Bond by far," Bonnie says, though she admits to having seen only a few of the films. "He just had that way about him."
"What's Connery got that I don't?" Jim grumbles good-naturedly. "I've been on adventures all over the world, too."



A perennial jokester, Jim grows more serious when he talks about his global travels. He joined the army at 19 and served in an ammunition company that supplied the front lines in battle during World War II.

"I was in a company of 280 men, and we only lost one man the entire time," he says. "We were just lucky because it was a bad situation all around."
Jim spent two years overseas, with stops in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines.

"It's been a lifetime ago, but I remember it all pretty clearly," he says. "I remember it raining for 30 days straight on New Briton Island and those sneaky Japanese snipers in the trees and how those dang land crabs in Australia used to pinch us when we was down in the foxholes.

"It was quite something," he says.
Before Jim left for the war, he had completed a night school program in Atchison to become a mechanic. He worked a variety of jobs after his return -- including a government guard position that brought him to Lawrence in 1951 -- but repairing motors and machines was his niche.
"I like to puzzle things out," he says, "and fix 'em."
Jim spent 20 years as a truck driver and diesel mechanic at U.S. Industrial Chemicals, which was later bought out by Koch Industries, before his retirement in 1986.
"Then I had more time to cause trouble," he says, "and more time to bug Bonnie."

Bonnie, who worked 30 years as a certified medical assistant with Reed Medical Group, says Jim loves to play practical jokes on her.

"He's always getting me to believe something that isn't true," she says, recalling the time her wily husband convinced her that a sprinkler irrigation system in a farm field was really a back-scratcher for cows. "I have to keep a close eye on him."
As for laughable moments involving his famous name, Jim says his credit card often gets funny looks or giggles, and bank tellers still get a kick out of his deposit slips.

"The name always gets their attention," he says. "But when they yell my name out, I just want to crawl in a hole of some sort."

Bonnie says she has become accustomed to prank phone calls at the couple's home from children "of all ages."
"They usually call and ask for James Bond," she says. "Jim never answers the phone, so I get to deal with them. Sometimes they get flustered and hang up, but if they don't, I tell them Mr. Bond is out on a mission, and if they want, I'll take a message for him.
"They usually enjoy that and say thank you."

The Bonds, who have two grown sons and two grandchildren, say they've both had fun with Jim's noteworthy moniker through the years.
"Oh, it's kind of neat," Jim says. "It never got me any blondes or anything, but I can't complain."
Bonnie nods emphatically.

"He knew I wasn't ever going to dye my hair, so he just gave up," she says with satisfaction. "And I get to be the woman who tamed 007." Talk about the ultimate Bond girl.

Thanks to `Ken` for the alert.

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