Submitted by: Dan Rich

Ann Bunker

April 26, 1922 - Nov. 23, 2008

South Bend Tribune 11/25/2008
MISHAWAKA - Ann Bunker, 86, recently of 1025 Park Place, Mishawaka, IN 46545, Mishawaka, IN, died of natural causes on Nov. 23, 2008. Ann was born Clara Ann Buckman on April 26, 1922, in Visalia, CA. She grew up near the Sierra Mountains in rural Three Rivers, CA, but later moved to Southern California because of her father's health problems. He later died prematurely from TB, and this loss had a major impact on her life. She cared for her brothers while her mother worked during The Depression years. In 1942 she married a bright young engineer, Alan Bunker. They both loved the outdoors; their honeymoon was spent camping in the springtime flowers of the California desert. Together they designed and built their house in Monrovia, CA. During World War II, Ann worked as a nurse while Alan served in the Navy in the Pacific. After the war, they had three children, Barbara, Bruce and Grant. In 1955 the young family moved to the Pacific Northwest near Seattle, where Alan worked as an engineer for the Boeing Company. He and Ann designed and built a home overlooking Lake Washington, and they cherished the view of the lake, Seattle, and the Olympic Mountains. Ann is survived by her two sons, Bruce of Granger, IN, and Grant of Oak Park, IL; a son-in-law, John Bannick; two daughters-in-law, Kathie Newman of Granger and Adrienne Peterson of Oak Park; and five grandchildren, Ian (23) of Portland, OR, and Eric (20) of Granger, Carl (18), Linnea (17) and Nathan (12) of Oak Park.