Barry Luella Dunnam Lundquist, our rose of San Antone, passed away peacefully on July 27, 2021, with family by her side. She had the good fortune of celebrating her 90th birthday in May surrounded by family and friends, many of whom she had not seen in person for more than a year due to pandemic restrictions.
Lu was born May 24, 1931, in Robstown, Texas, to George and Celeta Rothrock Dunnam, and grew up in San Antonio. After graduating from Alamo Heights High School, she went to work for the Lone Star Brewing Company as an assistant purchasing agent and as a bathing beauty in the Lone Star Aquacade. While working there, her best friend, Ann Treuthardt, introduced her to the love of her life, Carl Richard Lundquist, a young Marine Corps aviator from Georgetown. They became engaged in 1951, right before Carl was assigned to duty in Korea. While on a mission, Carl’s plane was shot down and two long years would pass before he would be released from a prisoner-of-war camp. He was allowed to send only one letter to Lu while he was a prisoner, but their love never wavered during that long absence. When the Armistice Agreement was signed, Carl returned home to a hero’s welcome and to the arms of his waiting sweetheart. Lu and Carl were married within the month and were transferred to Hawaii, where the first of four daughters was born. They would move ten more times in the next twenty years before retiring in Austin.
Lu embraced her role as a military wife by helping her growing family learn the history and culture of each new duty station. While in Hawaii, she learned to hula and delighted in teaching her young daughters that beautiful dance. She even performed at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and later taught the expressive hand movements to a class of hearing-impaired children.
Working with special needs children was a calling for Lu, and she filled that calling by volunteering to work with nonprofits that served those children in Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and North Carolina. She had an expansive volunteer spirit and also spent time volunteering for the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the People’s Clinic, the Austin Diagnostic Clinic, and Travis County Literacy. Her favorite volunteer charity, however, was without a doubt Meals on Wheels. She volunteered there for 23 years, often volunteering four days a week, and was twice named Volunteer of the Year. She met many people and made many close friends while at Meals on Wheels and had a lot of fun. In lieu of flowers, Lu’s desire was for donations to be made to Meals on Wheels Central Texas.
Lu knew the value of cultivating close friendships and was blessed to live across the street from her childhood friend, Ann Treuthardt Warner, for 40 years of her adult life. Like most military spouses, Lu made life-long friends at each duty station and ended up with an enviable supply of the best recipes each of her new friends had to offer. She also spent time as a single mom while Carl served tours of duty in Okinawa as well as Vietnam. When Carl passed in 1976 at the age of 47, Lu truly became a single mom to their 6-year-old daughter Leslie. Years later, some of Lu’s happiest times were spent loving and nurturing Leslie’s three daughters.
Lu was preceded in death by her husband, Carl Richard Lundquist; her daughter, Laura Lundquist; and her granddaughter, Madelyn Laura Mendoza. She is survived by her daughter Karen Lundquist (Jim Zion); daughter Elizabeth Lundquist; daughter Leslie Mendoza (Eddie Mendoza); granddaughters Maison Mendoza and Olivia Mendoza; and many nieces and nephews and their families.
Lu will be laid to rest at Palm Valley Lutheran Church next to her husband and granddaughter at a service for the immediate family. She had been a member of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center since its inception, and her family will honor her life and her love of flowers at a memorial celebration to be held at the Wildflower Center in the near future.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18