Barbara Dunne Obituary

Longtime Durango resident Barbara Dunne died of cancer Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013, at her daughter's home in Aurora. She was 70.

Mrs. Dunne was born to Paul and Catherine Barker on Sept. 12, 1943, in Browns Mills, N.J., where she grew up. Her father was a firefighter who died in the line of duty when she was young. Mrs. Dunne went on to attend Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross in Washington, D.C., majoring in biology and religious studies.

After graduating from college, she moved to California to continue her studies in education and served in the Teacher Corps.

She met her future husband, Joseph E. Dunne III, when he was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. The couple married in 1971 at the university's Student Union.

The Dunnes move back to the Washington, D.C., area, where Mrs. Dunne taught at several schools for more than 20 years, including Beddow, Flintstone Elementary and G. Gardner Shugart Middle schools.

She fell in love with the Four Corners after a vacation there in the late 1980s. She later took a position in the Montessori program at Manaugh Elementary School in Cortez, where she worked until retirement.

"In her retirement, Barbara had more time to pursue her passions, including traveling, cooking, reading, looking after numerous pets, gardening and embarrassing her children by striking up conversations with random strangers," according to her family.

Mrs. Dunne also was an active member of the community, serving on the board at Manna Soup Kitchen and tutoring schoolchildren and inmates at the La Plata County Jail. She was an involved member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Daughters of the King and Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where her husband was a deacon.

Mrs. Dunne was preceded in death by her husband of 39 years, the Rev. Joseph E. Dunne III, in spring 2010.

She is survived by her daughter, Joanne Dunne of Aurora; sons Lonnie Hicks of High Point, N.C., and Jonathan Dunne of Haringey, North London; and one grandson.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave., in Durango. A reception will be held immediately afterward at the church.