OBITUARY
Rev. Dunbar was advocate for the poor
Photos & images All Slideshows ยป
Click Photo to Enlarge
ADVERTISEMENT
CODAC
MULTIPLE HEALTHCARE OPPORTUNITIES Administrative & Professional
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
PROJECT DIRECTOR Health Care
COPE BEHAVIORAL SERVICES
MULTIPEL POSITIONS General
COMMUNITY PROVIDER OF ENRICHMENT SERVICES
CAREER GROWTH Finance and Accounting
FLOWERS, RIEGER & ASSOCIATES
TAX STAFF Health Care
ARIZONA COMMUNITY PHYSICIANS
LAB MANAGER Education
VAIL SCHOOL DISTRICT
SAFETY COORDINATOR
- Most Commented Stories Today
- Most E-mailed Stories Today
The Rev. Dale Dunbar, a Methodist pastor who was a leading advocate here for the poor, handicapped and the elderly, died Saturday. He was 85.
In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, he was a vocal supporter of access to abortion services for the poor, the streamlining of the food stamp application process for the hungry and for more jobs for the handicapped.
He also was president of the Tucson Housing Foundation, a nonprofit that initiated and organized the effort to build the 143-apartment senior housing project downtown at 12th Street and Fifth Avenue, known as the Armory Park Apartments.
Groundbreaking was March 22, 1972.
In 1967, he became executive director of Goodwill Industries in Tucson, initiating Goodwill's operations here, said his son, Mark, of Tucson.
Mr. Dunbar was the Tucson Ecumenical Council's representative to the Committee on Economic Opportunity, a local panel that oversaw anti-poverty programs in Pima and Santa Cruz counties. He later became president of its board.
The Chicago native graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1944 with a degree in social sciences and from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Illinois in 1947 with a divinity degree. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and did not serve in the military. He followed his father, the Rev. Glenn Dunbar, of Elwood, Ill., into the ministry.
Mr. Dunbar began his ministry in Arizona in 1948 at Patagonia Community Church and in 1951 moved to Somerton Methodist Church. In 1957 and 1958 he trained with Goodwill Industries and became executive director of Goodwill's operation in Zanesville, Ohio, until 1962, when he became pastor of Hope Methodist Church in Tucson.
From 1965 to 1967 he was associate pastor of Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway Blvd.
"Dale was a very loving and giving person to his family and to his church," said his wife, Marilyn, who met him when she was 20 and a University of Arizona student from Prescott.
The couple were married for 57 years.
"He loved people," she said.
Mr. Dunbar, then 28, came into First Methodist Church while she was planning a retreat for Methodist students at UA at a ranch that is now the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
"He showed up at the retreat and we became a little better acquainted," Marilyn Dunbar said Tuesday. "He was very easy to talk with."
In addition to his wife and son Mark, he also is survived by sons Glenn, David and Scott, also of Tucson, and Kirk of Prescott.
A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church, 915 E. Fourth St., followed by a luncheon.
An urn containing his remains will be placed at a later date at First United Methodist Church's memorial patio.
- Read All Comments » 0 TOTAL COMMENTS
- Post a Comment »