Norwich — When Bonnie Hong was a young nurse and started working at the William W. Backus Hospital, she joined a picket line in front of the hospital to protest the Vietnam War.

She “got called on the carpet” by her supervisor, Hong’s lifelong friend, Janice Orsini, said Monday, and was told: “you can’t do that.”

Hong quickly replied. “Yes, I can, that’s my Constitutional right,” Orsini said.

“She was always up to a challenge and would jump right into whatever,” Orsini said.

Hong, 74, a maverick political figure in the city and a dedicated volunteer, died Friday after a two-year battle with complications from heart surgery. Her husband, Dr. Cornelius “Ben” Hong said he retired and closed his 30-year medical practice at 26 Lafayette St. in 2018, and the couple planned to travel. But Bonnie knew she needed heart surgery first.

“Thankfully, she was no longer suffering from pain,” Ben Hong said. “It was a long road.”

Friends, family, political colleagues and fellow volunteers recalled Hong’s dedication to Norwich and its people. She left her mark of innovation and perseverance in several circles, from her work as office manager for her husband’s medical practice to politics and her activities in Norwich Rotary.

Hong grew up in Norwich, graduated from Norwich Free Academy in 1964. She trained as a nurse at Bellevue Hospital in New York City before returning to her hometown.

She entered local politics with a bang, shaking up the Democratic Party establishment, and winning a seat on the City Council in 1985. After a charter change to create a council president elected at large, Hong challenged party-endorsed Democrat Charles Witt and won the Democratic primary and the November election as city council president in 1987. She then set up the first council president's office in City Hall, which since became the mayor's office.

Although that gave the Democrats a 6-5 majority, Hong continued to face criticism from fellow Democrats. In an Aug. 6, 1989, story in The Day profiling rising female candidates in Norwich, New London and Groton, Norwich Democratic Town Committee Chairman John Driscoll said Hong and her supporters put their interests above the party and questioned her leadership.

“She wasn’t a partisan person, and they didn’t like that,” said Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom, who was a Norwich state representative at the time. “You see how horrible that can be. Everything is partisan at the national level right now and it’s just horrible.”

Ben Hong said he mostly stayed out of the political arena, but said he always appreciated how the people of Norwich supported Bonnie, if her own party did not.

“When she was in politics and was successful in her time campaigning and being on the city council, what she would fight for is what she felt was right,” Ben Hong said. “And she got the support of the public. I was very appreciative of how the public supported her.”

Her daughter, Robin Hong, 43, who now lives in Oregon, said she didn’t catch her mother’s political bug, but did inherit her volunteer spirit. Robin was in middle school at Pine Point School in Stonington when her mother became City Council president. She recalled her mother’s dogged determination amid the vitriol.

“I just remember her caring so much about this community, wanting to do right by it, do the best she could for it,” Robin Hong said. “This is where she was born and raised as well. This was her home, where she wanted to raise her children and wanted it to be a true community of caring and loving people.”

Hong lost the party nomination and primary in 1989 and tried unsuccessfully to run as a Republican candidate in 1991.

She then turned to volunteer efforts, especially Norwich Rotary. Nystrom said he had remained friends with Hong over the years and admired her dedication to the city and to volunteering to help local youths and to promote the city.

In 1982, Bonnie Hong helped her husband set up his medical office on Lafayette Street. She quickly became frustrated with antiquated paper records and difficulty receiving patients’ medical histories from doctors or hospitals. She created one of the first computerized medical record systems – “that was way before the .com came along,” her husband said.

Hospitals and doctors initially rejected the concept, not wanting to share information. But Bonnie Hong set up a medical software company and marketed the system in multiple states. But when computers became big business and the internet came along, she couldn’t compete as a small entrepreneur, Ben Hong said.

Her friend, Orsini, worked for Hong’s office as a part-time nurse for two years. She said she was intimidated at first at the computer system.

“In Ben’s office, everything was on a computer,” Orsini said. “That was not done at the time. She was not a computer expert, but she made it work.”

Hong brought her innovative attitude to Norwich Rotary, serving for a time as club president. Hong launched the Rotary summer carnival, helped raise tens of thousands of dollars to buy winter coats for local children and to buy dictionaries for schools, former club President Barry Shead said.

In 2013, Hong became passionate about establishing an international peace pole in Norwich and “did practically everything” to create the display at the Howard T. Brown Memorial Park, Shead said. Four poles at the park carry the message in numerous languages: “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” Hong then got Norwich recognized by Rotary International as an official city for international peace.

“It was a great message, and she was very passionate about that," Shead said.

To promote tourism with environmental awareness, she worked to create an electric-powered trolley that could transport visitors to local attractions. American Ambulance donated a frame and chassis, and Hong galvanized dozens of volunteers working hundreds of hours to build the trolley. But other than a few parade and promotional runs, the trolley has sat idle.

Hong brought another new concept to the local Rotary, establishing New England's first Rotary Community Corps to work on local volunteer construction projects, whether it be handicapped ramps or building floating kettles to create Water Fire in Norwich Harbor.

Hong returned to politics in 2016, spearheading the local campaign for Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Hong secured a small campaign office on lower Main Street — the only one in the state, Orsini said. Volunteers brought in chairs, a desk, laptops, and Hong got campaign material from Sanders’ national office.

Hong attended Sanders rallies in New Jersey and New York and following Sanders’ lead, launched her own long-shot campaign for state representative as a petitioning candidate against incumbent Democrat Emmett Riley in the 46th House district. She finished a distant third.

“She was a special person,” Orsini said. “She was always for the underdog. She would always lift people up. She was very, very bright, smart and adventurous.”

c.bessette@theday.com