Violet Dunn

(Ida) Violet Raborn Dunn was born in Grant, Oklahoma to Web and Flora Raborn on January 30, 1923. Growing up during the Great Depression she learned to survive hard times and made saving a way of life. She married a handsome young soldier, Frank J. Dunn, on November 5, 1938, and began a life of travels and adventures. Vi shared her optimism with other homesick young military wives, “Wherever you live, look for something good about it!” Violet lived that advice! Iced in at Nome, Alaska, she admired the fantastic sunsets. Stationed in England, the entire family took uncharted road trips exploring the surrounding countryside. Each transfer required saying goodbye to her friends and what had been “home”. In each new location Vi quickly made new friends, and still took time to keep in contact with friends from previous locations. After Frank’s retirement, she adapted to life in the Texas Hill Country by planting a big garden, sewing clothes, freezing peaches, making Mustang grape juice, and helping build their retirement home. Due to situations beyond their control, neither Frank nor Vi were able to graduate from high school, yet they were determined that all three children would go to college. So Vi took a job with Texas Instruments to save for college expenses. All three did eventually graduate from college which was a source of great joy for both parents. “The Move to Town” meant building a smaller home in Burnet, new friends, and making the First Baptist Church of Burnet a constant in their lives. Vi’s tenacity and endurance was again tested when she lost her husband Frank on March 22, 1998, in their sixtieth year of marriage. Next came the blessing of surviving cancer, with so much more life to live! Seven years after Frank’s death, at eighty-two, on June 4, 2005 she married Richard Markle who had been in the army with Frank. Vi loved his daughters Sue Silvus and Janit King as her own. The couple spent much of their time in his native Ohio, until his sudden death February 16, 2013. Again surviving and going forward, she returned to Texas and focused on her friends and flowers. She enjoyed laughing with her friends as they played Canasta, “42” or dominoes. On June 15, 2018, while on a “bucket list” trip with her loving daughter Elissa, she completed her adventures. She was 95. She is survived by her three children, Dianne D. McDonnell and her husband Gary; Phil H. Dunn and his wife Mary Z. “Kelly”; Elissa Dunn Beach and Chester John. Her grandchildren are Ethan N. Dunn, Jenee McDonnell Zaydon, and Kennon McDonnell, whose daughters Zoya and Katrine “Kikyo” McDonnell are the great-grandchildren of Violet Dunn. She also loved her many step-grandchildren and adopted family. Visitation will be held Tuesday June 19, 2018 at Clements Wilcox Funeral Home. The Celebration of her Life will be 2:00 Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at the First Baptist Church of Burnet. Pastor Doug Lindley will officiate with a grave side service following at Liberty Hill Cemetery.

Arrangements were under the care of Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home in Burnet.

Condolences may be offered at www.clementswilcoxburnet.com