Deborah Ruth Dunn

Deborah Ruth Dunn was born May 9, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri. She was the daughter of Gordon Stanley and Grace Bennington. She moved often during her childhood as her father was an evangelist, beginning school in Pennsylvania and then graduating from high school in Burbank, California in 1943. She accepted Jesus Christ as her personal savior at the age of five and has continued to faithfully serve her heavenly father during her entire life.

Upon graduation from high school, Deborah worked as Rosie the Riveter during World War II at the Lockheed Aircraft Plant in California. She also worked a short time as a nurse's aide. She was married to Jay Dee Dunn, a missionary to the Navajo Indian Reservation, for a few years, prior to his untimely death due to Tuberculosis. They had one son, James Daniel Dunn.

Deborah was later married to Curtis W. Dunn on July 17, 1951 at the Bellaire Baptist Church in Hawthorne, California. The couple made their initial home in the Hawthorne area and then moved to Compton in 1954. They continued to reside in Compton until they moved to Cleveland, Oklahoma in March of 1959. In addition to her son, Danny, Deborah and Ruth had five children, Charles Wayne, Stanley, Raymond, Timothy and Diana All of their children attended the Cleveland school system until 1970, when the Dunn family moved to Tulsa.

As her father was an evangelist, church was always an important part of Deborah's life. During their marriage, Curtis and Deborah attended the Grace Full Gospel Church in Jennings, the Mannford Full Gospel Church and have been member of the Beams of Light Church in Sapulpa for many years. Deborah loved spending time and taking care of her twelve grandchildren and great granddaughter. She enjoyed reading but especially looked forward to preparing Sunday dinner for her family at least twice a month after church.

Deborah passed away Saturday, August 2, 2003 at the St. John Medical Center in Tulsa at the age of seventy-eight years, two months and twenty-three days. In addition to her first husband, Deborah was preceded in death by her parents, two sons, James Daniel Dunn and Charles Wayne Dunn; three brothers, John Daniel, David and Gordon Bennington and a sisters, Joanna Winton.

She is survived by her husband of fifty-two years, Curtis W. Dunn, of the home; three sons and their wives, Stanley and Charlotte Dunn, Indianoma, Oklahoma, Raymond and Ann Dunn, Topeka, Kansa, Timothy and Ruth Dunn, Tulsa, Oklahoma; and a daughter and her husband, Diana and Ray Firey, Sand Springs, Oklahoma; twelve grandchildren, and a great granddaughter.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm, Tuesday, August 5, 2003 at the Beams of Light Church in Sapulpa, Oklahoma with Pastor Harley Hunt officiating. Burial will be under the direction of the Chapman-Black Funeral Home at the Dixie Bear Creek Cemetery in Cleveland.

Visit an online obituary, video tribute and guestbook for Deborah Ruth Dunn at www.chapman-black.com.