Elwood Robert Dunn, 1941-2000Give me a gentle heart, that I may do (Give Me a Gentle Heart by Percy Thomas) When I remember Bob Dunn, I remember a man of God who was gentle, kind, in love with the Lord his God, and a true servant of others. Bob was born March 4, 1941, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He became a member of Saint Luke’s Evangelical United Brethren Church in that city. It was there that God formed him, later to call him forth into the ordained ministry. As a committed member of that church, Bob was active in the church’s youth program, preached often on "Youth Sundays," and became a Sunday school teacher. Such ministries were God’s call upon Bob’s life for greater Christian service. In 1959, following graduation from high school, Bob was called to serve in full-time ministry at Berkeley Place Church, the Evangelical United Brethren Church Conference. While serving the church, and attending Shenandoah College, he met his future wife, Marlene Mongan. They were married May 11, 1964, and God blessed them with a son, Robert Scott Dunn, in 1969. While under appointment, Bob took the five-year course of study at Wesley Theological Seminary and completed his work July 25, 1975. He was ordained a deacon in the United Methodist Church by the then presiding Bishop W. Kenneth Goodson. He was so grateful and proud that the Lord had led him to that "high moment" in his life as he tried to be a faithful servant. Bob’s ministry was fulfilling as he served rural appointments from Mill Creek Charge in Purgitsville, West Virginia, to Big Island-Cove, Big Island, Virginia, and from New Faith Church in Schuyler, Virginia, to Zion Church in Gretna, Virginia. These appointments and others were his joy and that of his devoted wife, Marlene, who said of Bob, "He loved to preach Christ, and the people often told him they could see it in his face." To look into the face and into the life of Bob Dunn was to know a man of gentleness and quiet witness. He had a loving heart for the people under his charge and for all God’s children where he encountered them. His smile and the twinkle he frequently carried in his eyes were genuine and comforting to so many. He loved life and adored the beauty of God’s Nature, from the mountain peaks of the Virginias to the streams he loved to fish. He loved to hunt, but he respected all life as gifts from God. Bob was called to his Heavenly Home on February 9, 2000. His favorite Bible verse was from James 4:14, and his favorite hymn was "It Is Well with My Soul." Those who knew Bob Dunn know that he will not vanish from our thinking as long as life lasts. And, in Christ, we are assured that it is now "well with his soul." — E. Thomas Murphy, Jr. |