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Centralia junkyard king, 67, dreaming of a scrap yard wife
For all the things Vic Bonagofski has collected in his life, all he ever really wanted was a wife.
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CommentsFor all the things Vic Bonagofski has collected in his life, all he ever really wanted was a wife.
He is a man who deals in scraps, and there was a time when he had a plan. First, get stuff. Lots of stuff. Second, sell stuff for money. Third, marry a wife.
The first prong of his plan is definitely done - just have a look over the 8-foot fences around his properties on Reynolds Road and Old Highway 99. As for the second step, he almost achieved it during a local recycling boom among scrap dealers that spawned the obscure "Centralia Cardboard Wars" of the 1990s.
Now the well-known purveyor of walled-off scrap fortresses says he needs someone to love, and also to help keep watch over his treasure troves of metal and cardboard, which have been the bane of local code enforcement officials for years.
"Like everybody, I don’t like to be alone," Bonagofski said. "The reason I started all of this was so I could get rich and afford a wife."
The 67-year-old Bonagofski, a stout and strong working man often covered from head to toe in grease and dirt, describes his whole life as a "tragedy up to this point," and said he’s never even come close to being married.
"I was too shy in school," he said. "By the time I got out, it was kind of too late."
Or so he thought, until he met a young woman in the Philippines on the Internet.
"I’m trying to get a week when I can go over there and see her," he said.
But for Bonagofski, it’s tough getting out of Centralia, especially since he now has to cart heavy equipment and appliances around town with a makeshift bicycle hitch. That became necessary after a routine traffic stop in Tenino, coupled with his general refusal to comply with any permitting or licensing laws.
"It just isn’t constitutional," he said.
Meanwhile, Bonagofski will dream of the future as he works among his row of refrigerators, old cars and piles of cans that serve as the foreground for his little blue house atop the heap.
"One day I’ll walk up to that door, and say ’Honey, I’m home!’"
Editor’s note: This feature is part of The Chronicle’s ongoing occasional look at interesting people in the greater Lewis County area.
Dan Schreiber: (360) 807-8239
Copyright (c) 2010, The Chronicle, Centralia, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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