EULOGY FOR HELEN K. DUNN

Helen K. Dunn was born in Martell, Nebraska on February 16, 1905. She was second youngest of 6 children born to Fred and Dora Krull, consisting of 3 girls and 3 boys. She grew up on a farm in a community consisting of ethnic Germans. German was the language used in the home despite the fact that both parents and all the children were born in the United States. She didn't learn English until she went to elementary school.
 

Although she was raised on a farm, her father was a carpenter, not a farmer, by trade. Livestock, a vegetable garden, and fruit trees provided food for the family larder. As a child growing up, Helen had to help with the chores, which included milking cows and gathering eggs from the chicken coop each day.
 

From a very early age, Helen wanted to get an education. Her innate intelligence was obvious throughout her life, and learning was her first priority as she was growing up. She was the only one in her immediate family to graduate from a 4 year college course of study, and she was justifiably proud of this accomplishment. She majored in geography, with a minor in history, and was graduated from the University of Chicago in June, 1930 with grades high enough to qualify her for acceptance into the Phi Beta Kappa Scholastic Society. She wore her key on a gold chain as a necklace since she was very proud of this recognition given to her, and it was something she treasured throughout her life. Her keen mind continued to be one of her most obvious assets.
 

While in high school, Helen happened to meet a young man named Thomas C. Dunn, who was a college student at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She was enrolled in the High School located at the University which had been established for the purpose of providing prospective high school teachers with a facility where they could obtain practice in actually teaching high school students. At the time Thomas was enrolled as a college student majoring in chemistry. Although Tom (as he was usually called) was some 7½ years older than Helen, Cupid somehow did his job and the couple got married in September of 1925 after Tom had graduated from college and Helen had graduated from High School. (She was a married woman while attending first the University of Colorado in Boulder for a brief period, then the University of Chicago, where she graduated.)
 

In the mid-thirties the couple returned to Colorado to live where Tom had been transferred by the Government at his request. He worked as a chemist for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and felt that he and Helen would prefer to live in Denver rather than Chicago, since Helen had been experiencing some respiratory problems which could have been the early stages of tuberculosis. The drier climate of Denver attracted them, and after their making the move, Denver would remain their home for the rest of their respective lives.
 

After renting a home for a period of time, the couple eventually purchased a plot of land in the Park Hill District of Denver on the 2600 Block of Forest Street. They drew up the blueprints for their dream home themselves. Since construction took place during the height of the Depression, costs were low and Tom was fortunate to have a steady paycheck coming in as a Civil Service Employee sufficient to keep up the house payments. Their dream home would remain their residence for the next 52 years - until 1988.
 

The stork arrived at the Dunn home in May of 1940, after Tom and Helen had been married for 15 years. Their older son Roger Sherwood Dunn came into the world at the time of Hitler's invasion of Belgium and Holland near the beginning of World War II. The land adjoining the Dunn home was vacant and was cultivated by neighborhood residents to grow vegetables for their own use during the war years so that canned goods could be sent to the troops fighting the War. Such plots were known as "Victory Gardens". There was an article in the Rocky Mountain News in 1943 describing these gardens, which were being cultivated in various parts of Denver. One picture shows Roger at 3 years of age sitting next to a gigantic turnip which was nearly as big as he was. The caption underneath the photograph read "Lil Abner and Mammy Yokum would call this HEAVEN!"
 

About 4½ years after Roger's birth - Tom and Helen became parents for a second time with the birth of Spencer Farnham Dunn in November of 1944. It should be noted that neither of these deliveries was easy for Helen. Nevertheless she persevered and, through willpower, faith, and determination - to her everlasting credit - she succeeded in bringing 2 sons into the world, for which they will be grateful until their dying day. In Roger's case, a Caesarian section was required, and Helen came close to death during the process. In Spencer's case, medical help at the time was inadequate and often untrained due to the fact that medical personnel who could provide proper obstetric care were in short supply because of the War. Because of this situation, Spencer was deprived of oxygen at a critical time during the delivery such that, as a consequence, his mental development was permanently impaired, becoming increasingly evident as time went by.
 

Despite a number of heath problems and ailments which beset her almost continuously, she nevertheless worked hard to provide a decent home for her husband and 2 sons. She never shirked what she considered to be her duty. Her abiding religious faith gave purpose and direction to her life. She had been greatly influenced by her maternal grandfather, who had been a German Methodist Minister. Throughout her life she was an active participant in church activities - her primary social outlet being church service attendance and the majority of her friends being other church members. Although frugal by nature, she was faithful and diligent in seeing to it that at least 10% of the family income was earmarked for the church, or for church supported activities such as missionaries. She, in fact, had a soft spot for missionaries and felt a special rapport with a number of them - all over the globe. She provided them with financial support as well as material support in the form of home-made piecework quilts which she sewed herself and then sent to them through organized church missionary societies or individually on her own. She called such support her "philanthropies" for helping what she considered to be deserving recipients.
 
 

I vividly remember as a child that Mother would occasionally take my brother and myself to City Park where we would feed the ducks in the lake with old dried out bread slices. The fish in the lake (carp) usually ate the lion's share before the ducks could get there. I recall the times that Mother would take me to see organized softball games in City Park on summer evenings, occasionally professional baseball games at Bears Stadium, Monday evening travelogues at the Denver Museum of Natural History (which I thoroughly enjoyed and no doubt stimulated my own sense of Wanderlust), and riding with me on rowboats in City Park Lake or renting bicycles for us to ride around the park before she and Dad finally surprised me with my very own Schwinn cream and red bicycle for my Birthday. I enjoyed riding that bike for many years afterwards.
 

Mother believed in keeping her promises, a trait which I really admire her for. One occasion comes to mind which bears this out. The Shrine Circus was due to come to Denver, and Mother promised to take me. (At the time, we didn't yet have a family car, so we had to rely on public transportation.) Just before the date of the performance, she received word that her Father had passed away. Despite the fact that she was very sad, she nevertheless took me to see the circus, saying that her father would have wanted her to carry on as normal. He, along with Mother, believed in the axiom "A promise made is a debt upaid."
 

When my Dad did finally buy his first family automobile in late 1951 (a light blue 4-door Ford Custom), he drove us all back and forth to church every Sunday (Mother never learned to drive). Often she would make sure that single, mostly elderly ladies would have a means of getting to church by riding with us. On Holidays and occasionally other times during good weather, Mom and Dad would decide to take a mountain trip in the car. Mom would prepare a delicious picnic lunch, and, more often than not, we would bring along these same elderly ladies for a day's outing in the mountains. I have always enjoyed travel, so I looked forward to such excursions.
 

One of Mom's most endearing qualities, and I hope, one of her most enduring, was the example she set for others in her daily life. She was always straightforward, genuine, truthful, and unpretentious in her dealings with others. You always knew exactly where things stood because she was incapable of being anything other than what she was. Keeping up with the latest fashion trends or attempting to give the impression she was something she was not were ideas completely foreign to her. Concerning clothes, she said that she was happy with clothes which looked decent, were serviceable, and were clean - nothing more. Her only concessions to fashion were that she visited a beauty parlor once each week, and she used a little face powder and cologne - no other cosmetics. Although occasionally she could be difficult, demanding, and impatient, I realized that her motives were pure - she always acted in what she sincerely believed were the best interests of her 2 children.
 

I feel that her most enduring legacy from my point of view was that as I was growing up she instilled in me what could best be described as a moral compass to provide guidance to me throughout my life. She was in every sense a rugged individualist, and she impressed upon me the desirability of making my own decisions in life based upon what was moral and right, not in following the crowd to become accepted as a member of the group in situations where personal values would be compromised. "To thine own self be true" was the watchword, and it has since become my credo as well. This was something I had to do for myself, because it couldn't be done for me. If the end result was that I wasn't accepted as "one of the boys" this was a price that I needed to be prepared to pay. I will be ever thankful for her example in this regard.
 

In summary, speaking for myself, my mother and father made many intangible personal investments in me - too numerous to mention - which transcended any monetary or material support, although they certainly provided that also to the extent of their capabilities. But more importantly, they provided me with the necessary love, security, guidance, discipline, and instruction - on a daily basis - to help me develop into a productive member of society and enable me, in the process, to meet and deal with the challenges of the future.
 

I feel fortunate that Helen K. Dunn and Thomas C. Dunn were my parents. My only wish for the future is that I hope the example which I set for the next generation will be appreciated by them half as much as the gratitude which I now feel at this very moment towards both of them.
 

As I have indicated, Mother did not have an easy time of it in life. Nobody is more deserving of respite from cares and troubles than she is. May Helen K. Dunn now - finally and truly - REST IN PEACE.