Bunt Family - Family Histories - Coleman County, Texas

     I, Edna Mae (Dunnam) Bunt, arrived in Coleman the October, 1962, to assume the duties of caseworker for the State Department of Public Welfare. We moved to Coleman from Snyder, where we had lived since May 1949. Joe had worked for Texaco Company, the Snyder Fire Department, and sold Life and Hospital Insurance. We had decided to uproot our family and move because I had an opportunity to do something that I had always wanted to do - work with and in behalf of the elderly. Our son, Joe Monroe, entered the Air Force in June 1959, immediately after graduating from Snyder High School.

     Shortly after moving here, Joe bought out a service station. located on East Walnut Street and known as Joe Bunt's Texaco. He operated it until December 31, 1976, when he retired and spent his time with his hobby - his airplane.

     Vanita. the most timid of our children, quickly made the transition from a large school to a smaller one. She became active in the youth programs at the First Church and participated in the Youth and Adult Choirs, and many other church activities. Vanita was active in the band and received many honors there as well as in school activities. She graduated from Coleman High School in 1965, as Salutatorian, with a 94.70 average. Vanita received her Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. In January 1976. Vanita and Junious J. Arrant, Jr., were married, they now live in Austin and have two sons: David Joseph, age 6, and J. J. III, age 2½ years. Vanita works for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation and Junious works at First Federal Savings and Loan of Austin.

     Susie was active in the band and received many honors there. She made All Area twice, and was Band sweetheart her senior year. She participated in many school activities and was a WHEB ... a girl's quartet composed of Pam Wood, Marilyn Horne, Sandy Elliot and Susie Bunt. Susie graduated in 1909, attended Hardin Simmons University and Mary Meeks School of Nursing in Abilene, and became a Registered Nurse in September 1973. While in nurses training, Susie married Robert J. Erickson from Norwalk, Connecticut on July 30, 1972. He was with the Air Force stationed at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. He received his discharge in April 1973. After 6 years, their marriage ended in divorce. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from U.T. at Arlington, in 1978. In August 1982, she received her Masters Degree in Psychiatric Nursing from U.T. in Austin. She is Nursing Administrator at the Austin State Hospital.

     Joe Monroe, our son, claims Coleman as his home town. but has never really lived here. On July 10, 1964, he and Tressa Victoria (Vicki) Moisant from Midwest City, Oklahoma were married in Lovington, New Mexico. They have three children: Ann, Joe Allen and Elizabeth (Liz) Diane. When Ann was 7 months old,her Daddy was sent overseas and she and her mother made their home in Coleman until his return in February 1967. Vicki and the children have lived here on three other occasions, and she feels quite at home here. Their children have attended Coleman schools and now live in Greenville.

     I retired from the Department March 31, 1981. Many changes took place during my 18½ years of service.

   Burny Woodberry Dunnam, my brother, resident at Holiday Hill Nursing Home, moving to Coleman November 1, 1980. Due to health problems, he was forced to sell Dunnam Bros. Mattress Factory in Snyder in 1971. Except for 4 years he served in the Army during World War II, he had been in the mattress business since 1925. He never married. but claimed as his family all the underprivileged children in the community. He was Scoutmaster for the V. F. W. Boy Scout troop and was active in the Lions Club and the First Baptist Church. He died April 8, 1984 in Coleman, buried in the Old Snyder Cemetery.

(Images to be added)

Joe Bunt's Texaco

Bunt Family

Burny Dunnam in England - World War II