January 1, 2011

Luvenia Maude Thoburn Dunn

May 2, 1917

January 1, 2011

My mother spent a wonderful day with all of my family on Thanksgiving Day.  All of my children and grandchildren were there.  We enjoyed a long day of eating and catching up with each other.  She loved being there with all of them. 

Unknown to us that day, she had a foot and lower leg that had severe vascular circulation and her heart was weakening.  She had to soon have an amputation that she never fully recovered from and passed New Years morning at 7am.

While she was hospitalized I had the opportunity to tell her that she was the strongest person I knew, raising a family of 4 boys, 3 of us by herself.  I thanked her for what she had done for me.  She had given me the opportunity to go to college, even though she had no money. 

I told her that she was beautiful.  I had been going though the family pictures while she was in the hospital.  I was able to see her through the years, from a young girl on the farm, a young woman in Columbus, OH, working on her destiny, when she met my dad.  I found the family photos with the loves of her life my dad and her boys.  The events that we would take photos for, the rodeos, fishing contests, the proms, scouts, and just posing in the yard, together with grandparents.  Reliving the past.

I told her that so many people loved her and cared for her.  I found mountains of cards and letters from all of you folks, dating back near 70 years.  She seemed to keep them all.  She had even bigger mountains of holiday and thank you cards, ready to write a note, address, stamp and send out to you all.  This note is included in one that I had found at her house.  She had not had the opportunity to read her cards she got this Christmas season, so I read them to her last night.  She acknowledged each one.

She kept every newsletter, photo, address book, placemat, menu, and other decoration from her years as a Mrs. Jaycee, Parents Without Partners, and her beloved sorority, Epsilon Sigma Alpha.  She loved being a part of these organizations.  She held office in all including president, secretary and treasurer and most important the event coordinator.  One of the things she loved most was to throw a good party!

She was a strong, independent woman.  She had many suitors after my dad left in 1964, but she chose to live alone.  She loved to take trips to relatives and friends.  Just a couple of years ago she called Dial-A-Ride and went on down to a Diamondbacks baseball game.  Her TV was always tuned to the sports games.  She loved our local teams and I remember sharing her joy when the Diamondbacks won the World Series.  In 2006 she visited her brother, Bud, in Virginia.

She passed quietly and peacefully at 7am the morning of Jan 1, 2011.  She made it one into one more year, one more decade!  I made sure she knew she was important to all of us.

We thank all of you for being her friend all of these many, many years.  We will celebrate her life on Saturday afternoon, Jan 8th.  Please drop by to share your stories of her with us between noon and 6pm at her house, 2342 West Berridge Lane, Phoenix, AZ

Her son, Ed Dunn