This memorial website was created in memory of our brother, Peter Dungan. We grieve his loss and are grateful for the time we had with him.
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Peter J.
Dungan 1952-2019
Peter Joseph
Dungan died on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 following a short illness. He was 66.
Peter was
born on November 15, 1952, in Washington, D.C., the second child of Mary (Rowley)
Dungan and Ralph A. Dungan, Jr. Pete lived in Virginia until 1964, when the
family moved to Santiago, Chile. In 1967 the Dungans returned to the States and
settled in Princeton, N.J., where Pete graduated from Princeton High School.
Following
high school, he enrolled at New Jersey’s Stockton State College, and in 1978 he
graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s in psychology.
After
college, Pete ran his own furniture restoration business in Chicago. In 1984,
he moved to Washington, D.C., where he lived with his ailing mother Mary until
her death in 1987.
Peter then moved
to Kodiak, Alaska, where he worked as a commercial fisherman and a substance
abuse counselor. He earned his master’s in social work from Eastern Washington
University in 1995, after which he worked as a therapist in Nome, Alaska for
four years before returning to Kodiak in 1999. Peter lived in Kodiak, where he
maintained a private counseling practice, for the next fifteen years.
In 2014, Pete
traveled around the country for a time before settling in Colorado, where he
lived briefly in Denver and Longmont before landing in Salida.
Both of
Peter’s parents died before him. Pete leaves behind his six siblings: Chris,
Nancy, Jim, Moira, Paul, and Jenn, and his stepmother Judith. He is also mourned
by his nieces and nephews, aunt, uncle, and cousins.
Peter loved
helping people through his counseling. He also enjoyed meaningful conversation;
a rib eye steak from the grill; his dogs Roscoe and Patch; playing guitar; taking
drives around his beautiful homes in Alaska and Colorado; and a good sleep.
A thoughtful
and sensitive introvert with a strong sense of himself, Pete lived his life independently
and on his own terms. He prepared to leave this world similarly, carefully
attending to the business of wrapping up his life and arranging his hospice
care and end-of-life plans.
Pete spent
his last few months visiting with family and friends in Alaska and Colorado. He
died peacefully at the Howard, CO home of his sister Moira and brother-in-law
Bill, with his brother Paul and trusted hospice nurse Kayla also at his side, enjoying
a view of the mountains and a breeze in his hair. He was well cared for
in his last days, and left his life quietly and without fuss, free from fear and
with few regrets. He was much loved, and he will be missed.
In keeping
with Pete’s wishes, there will be no funeral service.
