Obituary for William Melville Dunn III
William Melville Dunn III,“Bill”, age 92, of Stillwater, died Thursday, January 5, 2023. A memorial service will begin at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, January 12, 2023 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church with inurnment following in the church columbarium.
Bill was born March 17, 1930 in Atlanta, Georgia to Reginald Elliot and Sarah Lightfoot Reid Dunn. In 1940 Bill, his younger brother Elliot, and their parents moved to Gainesville, Georgia where Bill graduated from high school. There he became an Eagle Scout, wrote for the local newspaper, and at age 16 joined the Episcopal Church.
Following high school, Bill attended the University of Georgia where he received a BA in French Literature Magna Cum Laude, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1952. He also was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, where he helped maintain the groups academic standing.
Upon graduation in 1952, he received a Fulbright Fellowship to University of Rennes, France and spent two years there to further his study of 14th century French poetry.
Bill served his military commitment in the US Army in the Korean War from 1953 to 1955. He was stationed at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island in the Signal Corps.
In 1955 he began his career as a Foreign Service Officer with posts in Haiti, Laos, and the Philippines. In 1965 he transferred to the Smithsonian International Art Program of the National Collection of Fine Arts focusing on exhibiting American art abroad.
It was there he met Barbara Hartley, a new employee from Stillwater, Oklahoma. An office romance bloomed, and on December 28, 1968 they were married at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
In 1972 Bill received a MS in Public Administration from George Washington University. He also was named the Assistant Director of Administration for the new Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the official national memorial to President Wilson. In April of that year Felix was born, Bill and Barbara’s only child. During this time the family lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, where Bill’s favorite activities included watching baseball and tennis, listening to opera while picking up trash in his neighborhood, being a Scout Master for his son’s Cub Scout pack, and dreaming of his peaceful retirement in Oklahoma.
In 1985 Bill retired from the Smithsonian and the family moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma. He had a short retirement before he became active in the community. He served as Assistant Director of the National University Teleconference Network at Oklahoma State University and later as Director of the Sheerar Museum, Stillwater’s local history museum.
He liked to volunteer and willingly served as Board Chairman of Judith Karman Hospice, the Nottingham Home Owners Association board, the vestry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, and on the board of the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Bill especially valued the years he had tutoring university students in French, Greek, and Latin, languages he loved and studied all his life.
Bill is survived by Barbara, his wife of 54 years; his son Felix and daughter in-law Rocio mother of grandsons Alexander, Jacob, and Michael; and Beckie, the mother of grandson Matthew.
Contributions can be made in remembrance of Bill to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and to the Stillwater History Museum at the Sheerar. All are welcome to remember Bill.
Bill was born March 17, 1930 in Atlanta, Georgia to Reginald Elliot and Sarah Lightfoot Reid Dunn. In 1940 Bill, his younger brother Elliot, and their parents moved to Gainesville, Georgia where Bill graduated from high school. There he became an Eagle Scout, wrote for the local newspaper, and at age 16 joined the Episcopal Church.
Following high school, Bill attended the University of Georgia where he received a BA in French Literature Magna Cum Laude, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1952. He also was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, where he helped maintain the groups academic standing.
Upon graduation in 1952, he received a Fulbright Fellowship to University of Rennes, France and spent two years there to further his study of 14th century French poetry.
Bill served his military commitment in the US Army in the Korean War from 1953 to 1955. He was stationed at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island in the Signal Corps.
In 1955 he began his career as a Foreign Service Officer with posts in Haiti, Laos, and the Philippines. In 1965 he transferred to the Smithsonian International Art Program of the National Collection of Fine Arts focusing on exhibiting American art abroad.
It was there he met Barbara Hartley, a new employee from Stillwater, Oklahoma. An office romance bloomed, and on December 28, 1968 they were married at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
In 1972 Bill received a MS in Public Administration from George Washington University. He also was named the Assistant Director of Administration for the new Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the official national memorial to President Wilson. In April of that year Felix was born, Bill and Barbara’s only child. During this time the family lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, where Bill’s favorite activities included watching baseball and tennis, listening to opera while picking up trash in his neighborhood, being a Scout Master for his son’s Cub Scout pack, and dreaming of his peaceful retirement in Oklahoma.
In 1985 Bill retired from the Smithsonian and the family moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma. He had a short retirement before he became active in the community. He served as Assistant Director of the National University Teleconference Network at Oklahoma State University and later as Director of the Sheerar Museum, Stillwater’s local history museum.
He liked to volunteer and willingly served as Board Chairman of Judith Karman Hospice, the Nottingham Home Owners Association board, the vestry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, and on the board of the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Bill especially valued the years he had tutoring university students in French, Greek, and Latin, languages he loved and studied all his life.
Bill is survived by Barbara, his wife of 54 years; his son Felix and daughter in-law Rocio mother of grandsons Alexander, Jacob, and Michael; and Beckie, the mother of grandson Matthew.
Contributions can be made in remembrance of Bill to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and to the Stillwater History Museum at the Sheerar. All are welcome to remember Bill.