Elizabeth Sargent “Bonnie” Warren passed away Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021, just shy of her 92nd birthday. Born in Boston, Mass., in 1929, she lived in Barrington for 56 years at 18 Homestead Ave., her beloved historic home, where she entertained many a friend.

Bonnie was the daughter of the late Elizabeth and Col. O.H. Saunders, USA. She received her B.A., cum laude, in Architectural Sciences from Harvard University in 1950, and often reminisced about an engineering class where she was one woman in a classroom of 85 men. She became interested in historic preservation through working with Antoinette Downing on Providence’s College Hill Demonstration Study in the late 1950s. This led to a career at the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, where she was a principal historic planner. She was instrumental in the publication of 37 historical architecture survey books.

Bonnie retired in 2000 and that same year was awarded the Antoinette F. Downing Volunteer Service Award by the Commission for her more than 30 years of work on behalf of preservation. Beyond her survey/publication work, she was a volunteer and board member of every East Bay historical and preservation organization, a public speaker, a teacher at Roger Williams University’s preservation program, a citizen advocate in public meetings, a.k.a. “The Lady from Barrington,” and a fundraiser, advisor, and mentor to the many organizations and individuals that counted on her expertise.

Her final project was a battle to preserve Nockum Hill from construction of a 236-unit housing project at the location of the First Baptist Meeting House in America. The site also contains an eighty-acre wildlife refuge, cornfields cultivated for nearly four hundred years, and the Allen-West House, which is on the National Register.

The Barrington Preservation Society with the Barrington Land Conservation Trust and the Friends of Nockum Hill fought a five-year battle in Rhode Island courts that ended in 2019 with the Town of Barrington voting to buy and preserve the land. She then helped in securing a 2021 National Parks Service Battlefield Preservation Planning Grant titled “A Place Called Nockum and the Inception of King Philip’s War” — awarded the day after her passing.

She leaves two daughters, Lisa Warren and her husband Eric Swanson of Matunuck and Dana Gee and her husband Mark Gee of East Greenwich, and six grandchildren whom she adored: Winfield, Elinor, Clark, Zing, Griffin and Hope. She was the mother of the late Hope Warren and married to the late Gilbert Warren from 1951 to 1972. They were close friends until his death in 2005.

A celebratory service will be held in late spring of 2022 at The Crescent Park Carousel — her favorite “Save!” Donations in her memory to the Crescent Park Carousel Preservation would be deeply appreciated: 145 Taunton Ave, East Providence, RI 02914 — CrescentParkCarousel.org ~ For online condolences visit www.averystortifuneralhome.com.