Submitted by: Mary Jo Koran

SBT – July 9, 2000

Alan V. Bunker

April 20, 1920 - July 6, 2000

Alan V. Bunker, 80, of 530 Tanglewood Lane, Mishawaka, Ind., died of natural causes on Thursday, July 6, 2000.

Alan was born on April 20, 1920, in Los Angeles, Calif., to Arthur V. and Mary (Briggs) Bunk-er. He grew up in southern California, loved the outdoors, and was proud of becoming an Eagle Scout. In 1942 he wed Ann Buckman, and their honeymoon was spent camping in the springtime flowers of California desert. After World War II broke out, he served in the Navy as a radar specialist in the Pacific and narrowly missed being torpedoed in the conflict. After the war he graduated from the University of Southern California in mechanical engineering, and developed scientific instrumentation at Beckman Instruments. In 1955 he and his young family moved to the Seattle, Wash., area where he worked as an engineer for the Boeing Company. He and Ann built their own home overlooking Lake Washington, and he cherished the view of the lake, Seattle, and the Olympic Mountains.

Alan was an avid backpacker, and loved the Cascades and Olympics in Washington as he had earlier loved the Sierras. His appreciation of the mountains, the ocean, and the outdoors in general was a constant through his life. He was a voracious reader with broad interests, and was a lover of classical music. His easy-going nature and wry sense of humor were appreciated by all who had the good fortune of knowing him.

He is survived by his wife Ann; his brother Robert of Santa Barbara, Calif.; three children, Barbara Bannick of Salem, Mass., Bruce of Granger, Ind., and Grant of Oak Park, Ill.; a son-in-law, John Bannick; and two daughters-in-law, Kathie Newman of Granger and Adrienne Peterson of Oak Park; and by five grandchildren, Ian (15) and Eric (11) of Granger, and Carl (10), Linnea (8) and Nathan (4) of Oak Park.

A memorial service will take place at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 11, in the HICKEY FUNERAL HOME, 17131 Cleveland Road, South Bend, with Rev. Jamie Miller, pastor of the Sunnyside Presbyterian Church, South Bend, officiating. There will be no visitation. Interment will take place at Visalia Cemetery, Visalia, Calif.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203-1606.