Robbinsdale Friends Write Book of Tragedy, Silver Lining
Nancy Stoneberg and her friend Bonnie Boufford have written a book about a story close to their heart.
“There’s so many things. It’s about tragedy. It’s about love. It’s about healing,” said Nancy, describing the book, “Stoney: The Waves and The Silver Lining.”
The book tells the story of when Nancy lost her husband Mark while on vacation in a rural Mexican village. In the village, there were no emergency services to help rescue or find her husband, who had been swept out to sea. For five long days, Nancy worked to find help to try to locate her husband.
“When it goes from ‘I want him,’ when the prayer turns into a, ‘I just need him back because we need to take him home,” it’s just horrible,” said Nancy.
Miraculously, Mark’s body was found in open ocean and Nancy was able to bring him back to Robbinsdale for burial.
Nancy’s grief was numbing and complicated. When she saw her friend Bonnie Boufford, she spoke about needing to write the story down. Bonnie said she’d help.
“I brought my tape recorder and I had a whole bunch of cassette tapes,” remembers Bonnie, who promised Nancy that the process would help her heal.
“That’s my promise to her, and I’m a woman of my word. When I told her, it would get written no matter what,” said Bonnie.
Now the book is written and on Amazon.
Nancy and Mark Stoneberg on vacation with friends in Mexico.
Bonnie and Nancy say the story might be tragic, but it has several lessons and a silver lining.
The most poignant might be when Nancy visited the beach with family, as she’s done several times since the accident, a person stopped her to tell her that lifeguard watch towers were being built and that emergency services would be ready to rescue people. Family and friends went back for the dedication a year later.
“Now, it’s his legacy. It’s all changed. We have this beautiful silver lining that goes on forever,” said Nancy.
