Arlyss Duane Dunham

Arlyss D. Dunham
November 26, 1941 - March 20, 2026

The world lost a calm and moderating influence when Arly Dunham died at home with his family after a brief but rigorous struggle with glioblastoma.

Born to Arlyss M. and Bernadine Kimball Dunham in St. Paul MN, he was four years old when they loaded him and his dog, Pal, into their car and joined the post-war migration West. He liked to tell his grandchildren that he had crossed the Rockies in a covered Studebaker. In Winston, Oregon, they lived in a tar-paper shack, a common sight in those days when so many returning vets were building houses for their families. The men came home from working all day, Arly said, and worked all night on their houses.

In 1960, he married Pam Ferry, his Grants Pass High School sweetheart, and they spent the next 65 years making each other laugh. Arly put his nose to the grindstone with the goal of completing college and dental school in just seven years. During student years, he worked pulling on the green chain, as an airline reservations agent, a waiter and bartender, and picked beans in the fields when no other jobs were available to support his young family. In 1963, with two-year-old Baby Liz, newborn Baby Mark, and life savings of $1200, the family moved to Portland where he enrolled at U of O Dental School. He received his DMD right on time in 1967.

Arly practiced dentistry in places near and far for more than 50 years, often under rudimentary conditions—a folding chair in a school classroom. His family has been thinking of all the people whose lives he touched. Not just in his private practice, or as Director of the Neighborhood Health Center, or as staff at Hospital Mama Yemo in Kinshasa, or as faculty at OHSU School of Dentistry, but the care he brought to isolated Marshall Islanders, sailing from atoll to atoll in a tall ship, to remote Caribbean islands as the “flying dentist” for The Bahamas Ministry of Health, and to children in southeast Asia—all as a volunteer. As one classmate colleague remarked, “Arly does the stuff the rest of us just dream about.”

As a Naval officer, he served at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, NAS Moffett Field, and NSA DaNang Hospital in what he would later describe as, “My all-expense-paid year in Viet Nam.” He arrived in DaNang during the height of the Tet Offensive in February 1968 and served during the deadliest year of the war.

He learned to sail in Chesapeake Bay while training at Annapolis, and he loved sailing all his life. There were some swell family summers in the San Juan Islands. Arly and his son Mark built a Cascade-36 in the late 70s and competed in the Oregon Offshore race for several years. The love of that competition continues; they were planning for the 2026 race just a few weeks ago. At one point in the last decade, we teased him that he was down to his last three boats.

In 1985, he assumed perhaps his most cherished role: being a grandfather. His greatest joy was being “Bompa” to his grandchildren and great grans. He reveled in their accomplishments and delighted in their presence. Whether cheering at athletic fields, playing games around the dining room table, or flying coast to coast just to be together, Bompa was a constant in their lives and cared deeply about each of their unique interests. From big international trips to simple local moments on fishing docks and sailboats, he was a teacher to them, sharing his wisdom about life…moments that will stay with them forever. He will be remembered for his forehead kisses, his steady storytelling, and never letting a goodbye pass without the reminder, “You are a very important part of this family.”

Arly’s is survived by Pamela Dunham, his wife of 65 years; his son, Mark Bartholomew Dunham and wife Lori of Lake Oswego; his brother, Robert N. Dunham and wife Delyn of Sherwood, OR; his sister, Sharon T. Dunham of Eugene; and three grandchildren, whom he loved wholeheartedly—Emily Dunham Schreck and spouse Teddy of Avondale, PA; Christian Bartholomew Dunham and spouse Meghan of Bronxville, NY; and Kate Dunham Oliver and spouse Reed of Lake Oswego. His six adorable great grandchildren were the absolute joy of his old age: Madeline, William, and Lily Schreck; Finnegan and Rose Dunham; and Henry Oliver. His daughter Elizabeth predeceased him in 2011.

He was a father figure to many young men and women and a favorite uncle to nephews Chris Angermayer of Boise, ID, Tye Dunham of Draper, UT; Evan Dunham of Sherwood, OR; Joseph Dunham of Vista, CA; as well as his dear Bingham and Blackstone families. We are all so grateful for his quiet, reassuring presence in our lives.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated April 11 at 10 AM, at St Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, 4112 SW Sixth Avenue Drive in Portland.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to NAMI Oregon or your favorite charity.