Obit of Dunham, J.T. - Texas County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Gene Phillips   <okarchives@comcast.net>   23 Apr 2006
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::Chaney-Harkens FH--McAlester Ok

Dunham, J.T.

J.T. Dunham 'I Never Met a Man I Didn't Like' Will Rogers J.T. Dunham, of 
Eufaula Oklahoma, died on the afternoon of August 29, 2005. He was born in 
Tahlequah, Oklahoma on February 1, 1932 to Leonard and Pauline Fesperman 
Dunham. After graduating from Northeastern State College, J.T. took a 
teaching assignment in Bartlesville while his wife Jo completed her 
college education. Both later earned Masters Degrees. Son Michael was born 
in Tahlequah in 1956 and the family moved soon thereafter to Guymon, 
Oklahoma where J.T would teach the fifth grade for sixteen years and serve 
as Principal of the suburban elementary schools for eighteen. Part 
Cherokee, part Cowboy and all Oklahoman, J.T. served in numerous volunteer 
positions including heading up the Special Olympics, Big Brothers-Big 
Sisters, and the United Way; served on the Board of Directors of the 
Chamber of Commerce; and was an active long-term volunteer for the Boy 
Scouts of America, the Masonic Lodge, Lions Club, the Guymon Literary 
Council and many other organizations. After retiring from teaching, he 
served as Director of the Information Center at No Man's Land Park, a 
'job' that he was born for. After Jo retired from teaching at Panhandle 
State University in 1994, they moved back to eastern Oklahoma to their 
lake house on Eufaula. J.T. never met a person he didn't like. He was 
friendly and disarming and never had a bad word to say except the 
occasional jab at politicians he considered too conservative. You could 
not help but become his friend. Chief among J.T.'s many passions was his 
fifty year love affair with Jo Dunham. In his later life, his grandson 
Drew was at the center. He loved 'cowboying', the Sooners, fishing, 
flying, Tiger Woods, the Special Olympics, the Lions Club, bald eagles, 
democratic politics, Michael Jordan, his mother in law 'Ma', his brother 
'Jr'. Charlie dog and being unofficial paperboy for the 'older' people in 
his neighborhood. He loved life on the lake and could be counted on for a 
daily dose of humor via e-mail. J.T was preceded in death last year by his 
wife of forty nine years, Jo. Bennett Dunham, his parents and brother and 
his father-in-law, Roy O. Bennett. J.T. is survived by his son Michael 
Phillip Dunham, his wife Susan Huffaker Dunham and their son Drew Dunham 
of Nichols Hills, Oklahoma and by mother-in-law Thelma Owen Bennett, of 
Barnesdall, Oklahoma. Survivors also include sister-in-law Ollie Dunham 
and her sons Bill and Larry Dunham and their families of northern 
California as well as in-laws Jim and Pat Kuzilik of Heber Springs 
Arkansas and Ray and Mavis Elks of Pinellas Park Florida and their 
families. A Memorial Service will be held at the First Baptist Church of 
Eufaula, Oklahoma on Friday, September 2nd at 11:00 A.M. In lieu of 
flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the 
donor's favorite charity or to the Dunham Scholarship Fund, Panhandle 
State Foundation, P.O. Box 430, Goodwell, Oklahoma 73939. Honorary 
pallbearers will be: Bill Lewis, Jerry Holly, Clayton Goff, Jim Oaks, 
Warren Rutherford, Grant Farris, Dr. Jeff Hermen, and Jim Portwood. 
Arrangements are under the direction of Chaney-Harkins Funeral Home, 
McAlester.

Published in The Oklahoman on 9/1/2005.
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