Dunn, Winnifred Lake Hooper

Winnifred Lake Hooper Dunn - age: 99
(August 24, 1917 to October 11, 2016 )
Resident of Ukiah, California

Obituary:
Winnifred Lake Hooper Dunn, aka Winnie Dunn, was born on August 24, 1917, at home in Huntington Park, California and died on October 11, 2016, at home in Ukiah, California.
Her father, Wilbur Hooper, died in 1921 of Tuberculosis when Winnie was only 4 years old. Her mother, Marian Lake Hooper died in 1935 of Ovarian Cancer when she was 18 years old, following her graduation from high school.
Winnie was the youngest of 3 children. She had one sister, Virginia Zuerlein, and one brother, Bob Hooper, who are both deceased.
Winnie served in the US Navy during WWII from 1944-1946. She was stationed in Los Angeles in the Department of Naval Procurement holding the position of Secretary. She performed such duties as dictation, shorthand, typing letters and answering phone calls.
After much consideration, Winnie decided to join the military in honor of her father who tried to join the US Army but was at that time diagnosed with Tuberculosis. She ultimately decided on joining the US Navy because she liked the looks of their uniforms the best.
While in the Navy, a couple of Winnie’s shipmates introduced her to a friend of theirs, Frank Dunn, who would later become her brother-in-law. Frank invited the girls to his house for a barbeque. His brother, Bill Dunn, had just returned after serving 3 years in the South Pacific in the US Army. He was very tan, with startling blue eyes and very good-looking.
Winnie & Bill dated for 6 weeks before getting married on October 31, 1945. Together they raised two daughters, Lynn Dunn (Wood) born January 2, 1947 and Lorna Dunn (O’Cana) born June 15, 1951. They had a third daughter, Laura Jean Dunn, who was born May 20, 1949. Unfortunately, she passed away at the young age of 6 months in November, 1949.
Bill & Winnie had a happy marriage that lasted 50 years when Bill passed away on October 21, 1995.
Winnie graduated from Huntington Park High School in Southern California in 1935, earning her diploma. She also completed a course and received her certification as a Key Punch Operator in 1964.
Winnie landed her first job at the age of 16 as a Gift Wrapper and File Clerk working for J. W. Robinson. Two years later when she was 18, she started working for May Company as a File Clerk. She stayed there for another two years then moved on to Union Oil Company working their big copy machine when she was 20 years old.
She then enlisted in the US Navy as a Secretary. She served in the Navy for two years until her marriage to Bill. She remained incredibly patriotic for the rest of her life.
After their daughters became teenagers, she decided to take a course in Key Punching to learn a trade. Her first position as a Key Punch Operator was working for Litton Industries in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California where she worked from 1964 to 1968. Later in 1968 she landed a Key Punch position at Teledyne and worked there from 1968 to 1975. That was her favorite job of all. She was so proud to say she worked on the first computers.
In 1975 she and Bill retired and moved up to Northern California in Redwood Valley where she would reside until 2014. Winnie quickly realized she was not ready for retirement so she took a job with The Redwood Valley Water District in 1977 as a Secretary. After leaving that position in 1980, she started working for PG&E as a Secretary, and stayed there until 1985. She thought she would try retirement again, but found she still was not quite ready for the senior lifestyle so took the position of Computer Operator at Remco in 1987 and was there until 1991. Her last paying job was at World Wide Anesthesia where she worked from 1991 to 1994 as a Secretary. She still found herself a little bored at staying home so she became a volunteer at Ukiah Valley Medical Center from 1995 to 2008, when she decided it was time to stop driving and handed her keys over to her daughter at the age of 88 years old.
Winnie was involved in many organizations throughout her adult life, starting out as a Girl Scout Leader for Lynn’s troop. She was the leader for Troop 1144 from 1959 until 1965, planning and organizing camping trips and other activities for a group of 12 girls that all grew up together in this same Girl Scout troop.
Winnie joined the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) in 1965. During her years in DAR she held the highest chapter office, serving as Regent in the Pomo Chapter in Ukiah for four years, followed by Secretary, Historian, Vice President, and Scholarship Chairperson.
Winnie also was a founding member of the Mendo-Lake Scottish Cultural Society. Starting in 1985, she was part of the Clan Stewart and enjoyed regularly participating in the Highland Games.
In 1990 she joined WIMSA (Women In Military Service for America) and was also a founding member. Winnie was delighted when she was asked to serve as Grand Marshal in the 2012 Memorial Day Parade in Ukiah, which is shown in the picture above.
Another organization she was proud to say she was a member of was The Mayflower Society, which she was involved with since 1985.
Winnie was a devout Episcopalian and attended St. Martin In-The-Fields Episcopal Church in Canoga Park, California from the 50s to the 70s. After moving to Northern California she quickly joined Trinity Episcopal Church in Ukiah in 1975. She belonged to a group of National Episcopal Church Women (NECW) from 1980 to 2010.
Winnie and Bill were deeply involved in Genealogy around 1980 and she traced her family as far back as 742 AD. Her research stretched over 30 years of visiting many libraries, such as Salt Lake City and San Francisco. Later on she used the Internet for her research. She discovered that George Washington was an uncle to her on the John Alley side of her family. She has many, many large books of research to prove all of her findings.
Winnie and Bill were also avid campers and travelers, camping in their travel trailer and later on in their RV. They loved to fish in lakes and the ocean as well as enjoy the sites of what nature had to offer. They even traveled throughout the United States for a year in their RV back in the 1970s. They also belonged to the Russian River Rambler Trailer Club, where they would enjoy the company of others that loved to camp.
Besides camping, Winnie has been fortunate to have visited many countries and loved collecting trinkets from her travels. Her travels included England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and Mexico, not to mention many states in America.
If you ask Winnie what her proudest moments are, she quickly replies raising her two daughters to be responsible adults and watching her four grandchildren grow up and have families of their own. To date, she boasts of having twelve great-grandchildren. Not a bad feat for not getting married until she was 28 years old.
Some people may say the greatest invention would be the computer, or television, or even the dishwasher. But not Winnie. In her opinion, without any hesitation, the greatest invention during her lifetime was the electric typewriter.
Up until a week before she died at 99, Winnie continued to enjoy her social life, getting pedicures, manicures, and her hair done often. She always started her day by applying her full make-up and would not go to bed at night without removing it. After all, she did not want to get wrinkles! She was very witty and had a great outlook on life. Winnie attributed much of this to doing crossword puzzles every day. She was a very good Republican and bragged that her favorite President was Ronald Reagan. She loved her family, God, and her country with all of her heart.
Winnie Dunn’s services will be held on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Ukiah at 11:00 am. Reception to follow at the church. Memorial contributions may be made to Phoenix Hospice, 100 San Hedrin Circle, Willits, California 95490. Arrangements are under the direction of Eversole Mortuary.