Age 79, Richmond, Va.
Bonnie Ray Atwood, a Richmond-based writer, lobbyist and human rights advocate, died Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at VCU Medical Center from complications of leukemia.
Ms. Atwood was born April 27, 1947, in Arlington, Virginia, the daughter of the late Virgil Ray Atwood and Delia Henderson Atwood.
She graduated from George Mason University and the T.C. Williams School of Law. She was a member of the Virginia Professional Communicators, Irish American Society, Quoit Club, Metropolitan Business League, Parliamentary Law Club of Richmond and Thomas Jefferson High School Vikings Foundation. She attended Holy Comforter Episcopal Church.
Ms. Atwood was a strong advocate for civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s and long-time supporter of Thomas Jefferson High School. In the 1990s, she helped organize efforts to save the school when city officials sought to close it.
In 2007, Ms. Atwood successfully petitioned for the erection of a monument in Richmond commemorating Chief Black Hawk, a Native American who was held prisoner in the city after he protested the taking of native lands.
Ms. Atwood wrote articles for local newspapers and magazines for many years. In 2020, she published “My Journey Through Eldercare: The Search for Peace and Meaning,” an account of caring for her mother. In March, she published “Avalanche: When Everything Changed,” a novel based on her experience as a skater in the Ice Capades.
Ms. Atwood is survived by her son, Joseph Green, of Richmond.
Arrangements are being made for a memorial service in Richmond. Interment will be at the Atwood Cemetery in Luray, Virginia.
Local announcement and arrangements by the Bradley Funeral Home in Luray, Va.
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