Bonners selected 2026 Outstanding La. Logger
Frank Bonner didn’t set out to run his own logging outfit. Then someone saw something in him, that he might make a go of running his own business. Bonner took the opportunity and with lots of hard work and dedication made it into a successful operation.
That someone was Robert Bennett of Bennett Timber in DeRidder. Taking advantage of the chance, and with a lot of hard work and dedication, Bonner has been selected the Outstanding Louisiana Logger for 2026.
“I couldn’t have done it without him. He told me here it is. Go get it and make him some money, so I’m still here making him money,” he said with a broad smile.
“I guess he likes me or he’d run me off,” Bonner said laughing. “He’s always been good to me.”
Twenty-three years ago, Robert Bennett of Bennett Timber Co. was looking for someone who had the determination who could make it as a logger. Apparently Bonner was the one.
“The success that he has is what he sees in the mirror every morning,” Bennett said. “Frank is what made that job and Angie’s a big part of that. I can put somebody in business, but it’s up to them to make it work. Frank has made it work.”
Frank Bonner’s wife, Angie, jumped in the business as many other loggers’ wives do, by handling bookkeeping, payroll and getting parts for repairs or maintenance, all while she held down another job.
Early on, loggers seem to learn to worry more. Frank handled that, but it was Angie who took care of the crying.
“Many a night I didn’t sleep, ‘how am I doing to this, how am I going to that.’ If something tears up, where am I going to get the money to fix this and that,” Frank said. “But the good Lord always worked it out. If you ain’t got faith, you’re not going to make it.”
After the first four or five years, the Bonners’ situation improved. Some of the worry was eased, but the work remains hard. Frank and his four-man crew worked the woods; Angie, able to leave her other job, had a full-time job in the logging business.
Before too long, Angie was in the woods learning to operate a skidder, although she didn’t do too much in the woods until their youngest child Jade started school. She ran the skidder, but she prefers to do something else.
“I love to trim trucks,” Angie said, adding with a wry smile, “I mean if it’s not really hot or really cold.”
“Yeah, I can run the skidder. I don’t want to. It has to be a catastrophic event going on. I can do it, but I don’t want to be tied down to it because if you get really good at something out here, you get tied to it. You’ll be on it all the time.”
The skidder also was the first machinery young Jade learned.
“I like to run the skidder because you don’t get dirty,” she said with a laugh, like she does get dirty when she works with her mother trimming log trucks after they’ve been loaded.
Frank said Jade was a quick learner.
“I showed her what to do and it took about 30 minutes and she just took off. She didn’t look back. She took after her daddy,” he quipped.
Jade also helps with running to get parts when needed, but as a new mother of a daughter less than a year old, her focus most often is on raising a family. Still, when she is needed she finds a babysitter and heads out to the woods to work with her parents.
That’s important, Frank said, because now is the time for Jade to learn as much as she can because he hopes that one day his youngest child will take over the family business.
“I show her a lot. I take her and show her what basal area is, what rows to cut, how far to stay away from an SMZ, where to cross SMZs,” Frank said. “All that’s very important, especially when you first thin and second thin.”
As for Jade, she is learning all she can from her father and hopes one day to do just as her parents did.
“My dad started it with absolutely nothing and obviously it shows he can take care of a family. And I want to be able to give my family what he gave to me and his family.”
Kimberly Yellot is the Bonners middle daughter who has chosen not to get into the family business. She said she wasn’t surprised to learn her parents were selected Logger of the Year because of their work ethic. And it is in that work ethic she learned a lot about herself.
“Nobody gave them anything; they did it all themselves,” Yellott said. “You couldn’t ask for better parents. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without my mom and dad.”
For Jade, however, her sights are set at keeping Frank Bonner Logging going. And she also might be looking further down the road than her dad when it comes to passing the baton to the next generation.
“I love being out here, I love being with my family and I hope that Jaylee can come out here when she gets older and learn how to run the logging business like me.”
To be in business as long as the Bonners, you also need dedicated employees. Most of the four-member crew have been with Frank for a long time.
Charlie Brittain operates the fellerbuncher and his brother John is a loader operator. The two have been with Frank Bonner Logging since the beginning.
“We were already on the job and Frank wanted to take over the job we were working on and we just fell right into it,” Charlie said.
They say Frank has been a good boss, “he’s our backbone out here.”
“He’s always there for us,” John said. “He keeps us happy. He takes care of us. That’s the main thing. He takes care of his employees.”
For Angie’s part, the logging job is only part of her involvement in the logging industry. She was selected to serve as chairwoman of Chapter 5 of the Louisiana Logging Council, even serving a short time as LLC president. That was needed, she said.
“It was hard for us to get our Master Logger (Continuing Education) hours,” she said. “So, when I got on the Logging Council, we started having regular meetings where other people could get their hours.”
In all, the Bonners have made a notable mark, with hopes of continuing their hard work and dedication to the business and the logging industry.
“I’m very proud of Frank and Angie,” said Robert Bennett.
