Stanley Dunnington

DUNNINGTON, Stanley "Stan" Lewis

Stanley Lewis Dunnington died at Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta of aggressive lung cancer on November 2, 2025. Stan was born in Elmhurst, Illinois on August 15, 1952. After graduating from Blackburn College in Illinois, he moved to Atlanta in 1974, where he worked as an orderly at Grady Hospital. He went on to work at the Georgia State Equal Employment Opportunity Office and then in 1983, he became a flight attendant for Piedmont Airways which was acquired by U.S. Air which was taken over by American Airlines. He was still flying two months before he died.

The only positive aspect of losing Stan is that his passing has brought together so many of the people who knew and loved him. His family, with the assistance of Stan's close friend Gary Glass, was able to take care of him in shifts 24/7 for two and a half months even after he was admitted to the hospital and he died surrounded by those who loved him.

So many of the people Stan flew with over the years have made a point of reaching out to share how much fun it was to work with him.

Humor was fundamental to who Stan was, regardless of the situation he was in, but his fun was not the har-har, slap-you-on-the-back variety. It was dry and arch and observant. He has a text on his bathroom wall that says, "Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic."

Well Stan was often tactful but plenty witty enough for sarcasm and so, so funny.

He has left an unfillable hole in the lives of his sisters, Diane Hill and Barb Kreski; brother, Steve Dunnington; and too many nieces, nephews, in-laws, cousins, co-workers and friends to list.

Stan was preceded in death by his mother, Jane Dunnington (née Baldwin) in 1983; his brother, Tim in 2008; and his father, Tom Dunnington in 2013.

A celebration of Stan's life is planned for the spring but the time and venue have not been determined.