Nathaniel Lee Dunham

Nathaniel Lee Dunham July 12, 1910 January 18, 2009 Nathaniel Lee Dunham, 98, passed away, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2009, at The Regent Care Center in Waco. A memorial service be held 11 a.m., Wednesday, January 21, at the First Baptist Church of Waco, 500 Webster Ave. The family will receive friends 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, January 20, at Wilkirson - Hatch - Bailey. Mr. Dunham was born July 12, 1910, in Griggsville, Illinois, to the late Nathaniel S. and Grace Cunningham Dunham. He was educated in one room country schools and graduated from Maywood, Missouri High School. He attended Culver Stockton College, Northeast Missouri State Teachers' College now Truman University, Iowa University, University of Missouri, Harvard University Naval School of Communication and Baylor University. Mr. Dunham was a teacher, school administrator, professor of history, athletic coach and dean of faculty at Hannibal LaGrange College in Hannibal, Missouri. He served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II, participating in amphibious landing operations on the South Pacific Islands of Okinawa, Saipan, and Iwo Jima. He was Executive Secretary of the Missouri Baptist Foundation before moving to Waco in 1955 to serve on the administrative staff of Baylor University, retiring in 1990, after serving 35 years as Assistant to the President, Dean of Summer and Continuing Education and Department Chairman of the Criminal Justice Degree Program. Mr. Dunham was a 54 year active member of the First Baptist Church of Waco where he served as Chairman of the Deacon Board and various other committees. He was a 53 year member of the Rotary Club of Waco, chairing many committees at the local and district level. He also served twice as the National Chaplain of the Holiday Rambler Camping Club and was a Thirty-Third Degree Mason. Mr. Dunham was preceded in death by his wife, Mildred Schaffer Dunham; his parents, Nathaniel S. and Grace Cunningham Dunham; and two brothers, Oscar Glenn and Benjamin Cecil Dunham. He is survived by three children, Grace Dunham Craghead and husband, Robert, of Fulton, Missouri; Cecil L. Dunham and wife, Phyllis; Louise Dunham Thaxton Stafford and husband, Lee, of Waco. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, Paul Craghead and wife, Patsy; Kem Craghead and wife, Sue; Constance Craghead Oliver and husband, Brian, all of Fulton, Missouri, and Craig Dunham; Susan Dunham Anz and husband, Jeff, of Waco; Tamara Thaxton Smith and husband, Damon; Richard Thaxton and wife, Laura; nineteen great grandchildren and two great-great-grandsons. Memorials may be given to First Baptist Church Waco Foundation, 500 Webster Ave. Waco, Texas 76706. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WilkirsonHatchBailey.com.