Joe Bonsall passed away on July 9, 2024, after a lengthy battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative neuromuscular disease, commonly known as ALS. The Oak Ridge Boys member retired from the road at the end of 2023, after quietly fighting the illness for four years.
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Bonsall was at his Tennessee home when he passed away. He was surrounded by his loved ones, including his wife, Mary, and Mary's daughter, Sabrina. In his final moments, the family recalls that Bonsall was in and out of consciousness.
"He wakes up and he's like, 'What's going on?'" Sabrina tells American Songwriter. "(His daughter) Jen is there, and she's like, 'Well, Daddy, you seemed like you were not having a good day. You haven't been conscious.' And he goes, 'Is this the part where I go?'"
As heartbreaking as it was, Mary did everything she could to make Bonsall's passing peaceful for everyone, including her husband.
"I said, 'Make sure you open the doors,'" she remembers saying. "I didn't want anything stopping his spirit from leaving. 'If the angels want to guide him out of here, I want them to have an easy job of doing it.'"
Joe Bonsall's Battle With ALS
Bonsall did not reveal he had ALS while he was alive. Mary vividly recollects the moment he realized something was wrong. Bonsall was cutting a limb that had fallen on his property, when he first became aware of an early ALS symptom.
"He was carrying the pieces into the front, and he noticed one of his legs was just a little off," Mary shares. "He said, 'Mary, something's wrong.'"
That incident was followed by Bonsall slipping while getting out of the shower. It was about two years later before Bonsall received the diagnosis of his terminal illness.
It was an understandably heartbreaking decision for Bonsall to retire from life on the road. After Bonsall realized he could no longer tour, he hand-picked Ben James to replace him in The Oak Ridge Boys.
"Joe told us as we walked him over to his wheelchair on the edge of the stage, he told us, 'I'm done,'"The Oak Ridge Boys' Duane Allen shares. "He said, 'I got to go home and deal with my illness.'" It was then that Bonsall personally reached out to James to permanently take his spot.
"He said, 'Ben, I'm done. Get on your singing britches,'" Allen reveals. "And Joe is the one that called Ben. So, Ben has been with us ever since. He's great to sing with."
