John Bunnelle

John H. Bunnelle
PHOENIX, Ariz. - John "Jack" Bunnelle passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday, March 27, 2011, at his home in Phoenix, Ariz.
He was born on August 2, 1924, in Rankin, Illinois, to Isaac and Anne Bunnelle. He spent three years in the Army Air Corps during World War II as a radio operator on a cargo plane that flew "The Hump" from India to China.
After the war he attended Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa, and graduated in 1949. While at Buena Vista he met Mary Patricia DeMers. The two were married on May 30, 1949.
He took a job teaching math and coaching the boys and girls basketball teams in Gillette Grove, Iowa. The Bunnelles lived there for five years and had three children, Jackie, Tom and Bill.
They moved to Jackson, Minnesota in 1954, and Jack went to work for his father-in-law, Leon DeMers at his Coast to Coast hardware store. Shortly after the last child, Barb, was born the family moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, where Jack began teaching math in the local junior high school. He taught there for 30 years before retiring.
When Pat, who taught third grade was able to retire the two began dividing their time between Stillwater, Phoenix, and their summer home in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. They eventually sold the Stillwater home and spent their winters in Phoenix and their summers in Lava.
Jack's eyesight had been deteriorating throughout his adult life due to retinitis pigmentosa and later the addition of macular degeneration left him completely blind. He endured this disability with strength and resilience. The heart attack in 1985 ultimately led to the congestive heart failure that ended his life.
Jack's wishes were to be buried in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. There will be a memorial service and internment this summer at the cemetery in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, July 7, 2011, at a time to be announced at a later date.