Hi everyone:

On Saturday September 2, 2006, Leo Dunne’s family (Dad’s brother) held a family reunion at a park in Plymouth. Mary Ann and I attended as did Marion & Jerry and most of their kids. I was asked by Patti DeHenau, one of Bill Dunne’s daughters, if I would jot down the latest news about our part of the family since so many of them live out of town. She said her part of the family would love to know how everybody is doing.

(In hindsight, I should have asked for such a report from their side as well.)

On their side, Jack, Bill, Jim, Sister Sal and Patti were all there. There were lots of their children and probably a bunch of grandchildren. Everyone looked “grand” as Ma would say. The turnout was rather small since it was the Labor Day weekend, but it was the best that Patti could do.

- Walt

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Family Update
Walter J Dunne Family
September 2, 2006

On the occasion of the Dunne family reunion, I have put together some of the events in the Walter J Dunne family over the years. There have certainly been many more positive things than negative things. For this, we are a very fortunate and grateful family. The best way to start is start with my sister Virginia.

Virginia Dunne Stark – Virginia and Harry live on Long Lake, just outside Traverse City, MI. They have been there for many years and do a lot of community service. Her kids are somewhat scattered around the country, so family visits are not too frequent. Her oldest is Tom Edwards who lives with his wife Audrey in Ft Lauderdale, FL. Both of them were involved in a very serious motorcycle accident a year or so ago. Last month, they both came up to Long Lake to help celebrate Harry’s 90^th birthday. It was like a miracle to see them both. Her other kids live both here in the Detroit area and in Colorado and California.

Virginia’s first husband, Bill Edwards also lived near Tom in Ft Lauderdale, passed away last year. Bill was a marine in WWII and was injured at Iwo Jima. He earned the right to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washing, D.C. Five of the kids were able to attend the burial and to honor their father on May 19, 2005

Eleanor Dunne Carver – After a rather long illness, Eleanor passed away on March 20, 2006 in Durango Colorado. She and Red lived in Durango for many years in order to be near their sons Jim and Bill who own a nice restaurant in town. These two kids started out working in a bakery in Milwaukee, then started their own bakery, soon to be followed by opening a beer garden. They were called, the “Brew Brothers”. From there, they moved their business out to Colorado as they were avid skiers.

Red was an automotive engineer and was one the foremost authorities on automotive frames. He was often a contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) publications.

Sadness came in June 1987, when Eleanor’s eldest son John was killed in a mid-air collision with another fighter pilot from the Royal Air Force. Johns was a Naval pilot who loved to fly so much that he had his pilot’s license before he had a driver’s license.

In June 2005, Red and Eleanor celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary.

Kathleen Dunne Ponziani - Kathleen and husband Lou moved to Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, many years ago when Lou was transferred there by Chrysler Corporation. They too celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary in June 2005. It may not be widely known, but both Red Carver and Lou Ponziani attended Chrysler Institute at the same time where they received their engineering degrees.

One time they both were at a party with a bunch of other engineers and they happened to meet two other girls at the same party. Guess who the girls were there. Only Eleanor and Kathleen. The rest is history.

Kathleen is an accomplished artist and is very active in the community. She also teaches billiards to senior citizens at the local Senior Center.

Kathleen’s boys are also engineers and it’s likely their grandchildren will follow their father’s footsteps. With one exception. Carol, the second eldest, received her accounting degree and went to California to seek more opportunities. Eventually, she went to work for Callaway Golf and soon became their CFO for the company. Her work at Callaway led the company to go public. She became the youngest women ever to take a company public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Marion Dunne Nagle – Marion and Jerry have always lived in the Detroit area. At one time, they lived a few blocks from Walter and Nola on Parkside. Unlike some of Marion’s brothers and sisters, most of their kids still live here in town. Their son Patrick has lived in Oregon for many years working in the lumber industry. He can’t get enough of that part of the country. Jerry retired as a manufacturer’s rep several years ago, but still keeps in touch with his old buddies. He likes to spend time in Florida during the winter to keep his golf game in shape. Sadly, Jerry’s four brothers and one sister have passed away, leaving him the last remaining member of that family. Marion works one day a week in the emergency room at Henry Ford Hospital in Bloomfield Hills.

Like Eleanor and Kathleen, “Mere & Jere” as they were known, also celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary on May 18, 2002. Mass was said at Gesu church and it was wonderful to remember the church that we located the next street over from our house on Warrington Drive. It should be noted that Warrington Dr could have been called the Dunne compound since the Leo Dunne’s, the Lefever’s, and the Maher’s, (both part of the Harrington family) also lived on that street one time or another.

Walter Dunne – While Mary Ann and I have a few more years to get to our 50^th, I feel just as proud as the others. I retired from the ad business back in 1997 after 40 years. (I count the time I was in the mailroom) while Mary Ann retired as a schoolteacher in 2002 with 30 years under her deck. Oldest daughter Anne lives in Carmel, Indiana with her husband Jim and their three kids. Actually, the oldest ones, Brian and Kaitlyn (another set of twins) can hardly be called kids since they are starting college this fall. It’s hard to believe. Jim is the plant manager for Chrysler in Kokomo. For those Dunne’s who lived on Longtin on Southgate, might remember Jim since he grew up just a few doors down from Jack and Gerty.

Mark and Debbie have one boy, age 3 and Mark decided to be a stay-at-home dad until James is old enough to go to school. Debbie works at Johnson Controls as a program manager.

Therese has remarried and has a two-year old Shirley Temple baby girl. Husband John works for Tower Automotive. Therese’s son David starts high school this year at Brother Rice.

Patrick has four boys, the oldest is 8, the youngest 5, the two in the middle are twins. They keep Pat and Maureen really busy. Pat works in the marketing dept of GM. 

To round out the picture, both Jeanne and her husband Ray work for Ford Motor in Dearborn. They have three kids – Erin, Ryan and Evan. And like many in the family, Ray is also an engineer. Jeanne graduated from MSU and Ray from Lehigh University.

After almost 30 years on Marie Drive in Dearborn Hgts, Mary Ann and I decided to sell the four bedroom home and move into something a little less spacious. You guessed it, we moved into another just-as-big five bedroom house, this time a little more West and just around the corner from daughter Jeanne. Her three kids often ride their bikes over to visit us.

Paul Dunne – Paul is the rocket scientist in the family. He graduated from U of Detroit in mathematics (circa 1958), enlisted in the Army even though he was a year or two away from the draft. He was stationed at the Pentagon as part of the US missile program. When his tour was over, he received a high recommendation from the Army General about his work. He was a private at the time. Lockheed Aircraft went after him and he was on his way to San Jose, California. Paul just retired from Lockheed last year. His two girls live in the San Jose area and he sees them often. He also stays in touch with their mother.

Michael Dunne – Mike is the world traveler in the family. He worked for Ford Tractor and early in his career spent time in Lyon, France when the kids were young. He and the rest of the family had to speak the language on their own. He also lived in London for a number of years, traveling around Europe. He is an accountant, but I still remember him sitting at the dining room table with my mother going over and over the multiplication tables. Once she asked “what is 5 time 6?” he answered, “27?, 44? 18?” Mike says that he hadn’t a clue, but if he answered 27 each time, he would eventually be correct. He says that the answer now is “around 30”

Son Edward lives in Colorado as a criminal investigator. Karen was a world class cyclist and now a member of the Peace Corps and is currently stationed on the island of Fiji. Fiji is still primitive to the point when Mike was coming to visit, asked Karen if he should bring his laptop. Karen said, “Are you going to plug it into a tree”

Today, he and Gerri live in Alpharetta, Georgia, just outside Atlanta

Thomas Aquinas Dunne – Tad and Dorothy are currently the only member of the Walter J family that seem to have full-time jobs. Tad worked for Blue Cross in downtown Detroit for many years and last year left to take a position teaching theology at Sienna Heights University. Although the school is located in Adrian, Michigan, he teaches his course mostly on-line. Tad has written several books on matters of spiritual and personal matters. They are available for sale on the internet and Tad receives some royalties from time to time. 

Tad is also a talented artist and is a regular contributor for illustrations for the America magazine, published by the Jesuits. As I remember, he also taught himself to play the piano and flute.

Dorothy is still working at Marygrove College as an administrator.

Robert Dunne – As everyone in the family knows, our grandmother, Ma, lived in Canada and one day gathered up her kids and came over the states to live. Brother Bob did the opposite. He went to Canada to live, married in Canada and died there. Bob worked at the Post Office in the town of Kanata, a few miles outside Ottawa. He and his wife did not have children. Bob had a number of interests. He was a photographer, an artist, musician, dog lover, and kite flyer.

Bob died in a motorcycle accident on May 5, 1985

Now that I am thinking about Ma, I can only imagine what the Dunne family would be like if she decided to stay in Canada. One thing is for certain, none of us would be here today.

To sum up, I counted Walter and Nola’s offspring:

• 10 Children
• 35 Grandchildren
• 59 Great Grandchildren

I’ll have to talk to Mike and have him double check my addition

Disclaimer: As much as I tried to be accurate as possible in the above information, there may an occasional piece of wrong information. Corrections are invited.

– Walter Edward Dunne