Louis J Dunn III

Louis John Dunn, III was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on June 28, 1947. He was the first born child of Louis John Dunn, Jr. and Barbara Bartlett Walker. He later became a big brother to Greg and Beverly.

As a young boy, he delivered newspapers in his neighborhood for several years. He attended St Rita Catholic school and Bishop Chatard High School, both in Indianapolis. Upon graduation from high school in 1965, he worked briefly in the kitchen of a department store restaurant before he enlisted in the Marines in 1966. He did not complete his training there but was subsequently drafted into the Army in 1967. This was the Vietnam War era but fortunately he was sent to South Korea for his overseas duty where he worked as a radio operator. Upon returning to the States he completed his 3 years of active duty in various locations. During this time, he sustained a leg injury during drills and needed physical therapy to recover. This inspired him to change his military occupation to a physical therapy assistant, and this set him on a course of helping people for the rest of his life. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 1970. He joined the Indiana National Guard and later the California National Guard and also completed Military Police training. He eventually was able to retire from the military in 1987 as a Captain after 20 years of service. He was very proud of his service to his country.

Louis was very shy as a child and told stories about sometimes being made fun of for being tall and skinny. This shyness persisted until he graduated from high school and joined the Army. Being around lots of different people and getting in shape from the basic training gave him confidence, and he was able to go on to a successful career where he often had to do presentations to large groups of people.

Back in Indiana in 1970 after his discharge from the military, he used his GI Bill benefits to start his college education. He applied to a Physical Therapy program but was not accepted on his first try. Disappointed, he pursued other areas of employment and education. He worked as a respiratory therapist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis for several years, and he also worked as an underwriter at an insurance company. In 1975, he received his B.A. degree in Psychology from IUPUI.

In 1973, Louis’ brother Greg died tragically at the age of 22, and this event affected Louis, as well as the rest of his family, for the rest of his life. Greg had not only been his brother, but was his friend and confidant.

After a visit to San Francisco in 1980, and at the urging of friends who had previously moved there, Louis moved to San Francisco in August of 1982 and lived there for the rest of his life. He told the story of how he drove there from Indianapolis with no place to stay and no job, just trusting God that everything would turn out alright. And it did. He met people and found a place to stay and eventually began employment as an alcohol and drug counselor for Baker Places/Acceptance House. He also continued his service in the National Guard in California while working. He became interested in Rehabilitation Counseling and was accepted into a Masters program at San Francisco State University in 1985. At that time, the AIDS pandemic had started and unfortunately Louis tested positive for HIV. It was a scary time and many people were dying, and friends and acquaintances urged Louis to stop his education and go on disability. Louis was conflicted, but he said that he got a clear message from God that he should continue doing what he was doing. He completed his Master’s Degree in 1987 and he went on to work over 20 years in the field of Rehabilitation Counseling helping hundreds of people with disabilities to find employment. He worked all those 20+ years at the State of California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR). During that time, he enhanced his knowledge of vocational rehabilitation counseling by studying and earning his Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRC), which is the gold standard in this occupation. Louis became a pioneer and an innovator in the area of helping people with HIV/AIDS return to work. People from all over the State and the Country would contact Louis to see how to set up similar programs in their states and cities, and he shared his knowledge by doing presentations in workshops all over the California. Several years into his employment at DOR, Louis was promoted to supervisor, and he shared his knowledge and skills with his staff, teaching them to be well-informed and caring counselors. In addition to his work at DOR, Louis also helped set up nonprofit organizations to assist people with HIV return to work by serving on their Boards. One such organization was AIDS Benefits Counselors which became Positive Resource Center (PRC), and still exists today. Louis had a passion for helping people with HIV disease. He also helped form and worked for many years as a volunteer in the Most Holy Redeemer Church AIDS Support Group. His primary role there was to train new volunteers how to care for their clients, and he also facilitated a weekly discussion group for volunteers where they could discuss their clients and get advice as needed.

Louis met his life partner Frank Leykamm in 1987. They became good friends and eventually moved in together in 1990. They became Domestic Partners in 2003, were married in 2008 and were together for a total of 31 years. Louis and Frank were blessed with loving families who accepted them and welcomed them with open arms into each other’s families.

Louis was a lifelong Catholic. However, when he was a child, in addition to Catholic Mass on Sunday, he also attended his mother’s evangelical church service, and this is where he was exposed to gospel music and the power of the Spirit. He was very active in the Catholic church both in Indianapolis and San Francisco. He was an altar boy at St. Rita’s Church for many years. He joined the faith community of Most Holy Redeemer Church (MHR) in San Francisco in 1982 and was one of the first gay men to attend at a time when the attendance at the church was declining due to many families leaving San Francisco for the suburbs. Besides being in the AIDS Support Group, Louis was a lector, served on the Pastoral Council, the Liturgy Committee, the Restoration Committee, the RCIA team, the Grief and Consolation Ministry, the Peace and Justice Committee and Just Faith, as well as singing in the choir. He was also part of a small Faith Sharing Community for many years where he developed lifelong friendships with the other participants. They became like a family.

Louis had a wonderful baritone voice and loved to sing. He sang in the Indianapolis Symphony Chorus, the East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as well as the MHR choir. He also used that great voice to proclaim scripture as a lector at Mass, and he did that for over 30 years.

Louis enjoyed traveling and was able to travel the world during his working years and during retirement with Frank and their good friends Jerry Betz and Bob Schmeisser. Some of his favorite places were Amsterdam, Australia and the Holy Land. He was the most adventurous traveler of the group and was the one likely to try different foods or go off the “schedule” and try something unplanned. He also liked to sit in cafes and watch the people walk by rather than rushing around all day to see the required tourist spots.

Louis retired from the California DOR in 2009. He did volunteer work with PRC and the Gubbio Project and St. Anthony’s Dining Room after retirement.

Louis enjoyed reading and was especially interested in different forms of spirituality. He began practicing yoga in the mid 1990’s, and he eventually became a yoga teacher after completing the training at the Integral Yoga Institute in 2003. He also studied Science of Mind philosophy and Rosicrucianism. But he still loved the Catholic Church, and despite its flaws, especially around LGBTQ acceptance, he remained a Catholic his entire life. He was adamant that he was loved by God just as he was and that nobody, not even the Pope, could tell him he had to leave. He famously proclaimed this sentiment once at a parish town hall meeting saying: “the Pope can leave the church but I’m not leaving!” In a talk he gave to his Most Holy Redeemer Community during a program called “MHR is Our Home” Louis said: “I stay at MHR because I feel comfortable and connected to a powerful Divine Source. My MHR home allows me to feel that strong connection to God that no Pope, bishop or church doctrine can break”. He had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and one of his favorite prayers was the Hail Mary. Another favorite was the Serenity Prayer, likely due to his work with the AA community.

Louis also enjoyed all kinds of music from classical, to R&B, to gospel music, to jazz. Jazz was his favorite and he got that from his dad who grew up in New Orleans. His favorite jazz artist was John Coltrane, and he had about every CD of his and loved to listen to them. He felt that John Coltrane’s music was spiritual and his favorite piece was A Love Supreme.

Louis was an out and proud gay man, and he was comfortable being who he was in all areas of his life. However, like most LGBTQ+ people in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, he struggled with coming out, especially with his family. Once he told his mother however, he felt like he could relax and just be himself. He was active in many LGBTQ+ organizations including Black and White Men Together and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. He marched many times in the Pride parade with various gay groups.

Louis was also a proud Black man, and he experienced prejudice during his lifetime. He told the story often of how his family traveled from Indianapolis to New Orleans in the mid 1950s to visit his grandmother and his aunts and uncles and cousins, and how they had to pack enough food to get them there because there were few places they could stop along the way through the Southern states. They could only stop at certain gas stations and certain hotels as well. They had to know this in advance before the trip. Even in his early years in Indianapolis, Louis and his siblings were denied entrance to privately owned amusement parks and pools because of the color of their skin. They could only attend the State Fair. And the pastor of their parish told him that he needed to go to school at the next parish over because that was the church for “colored Catholics.” Louis said that he was so excited when the Black Power movement started and James Brown sang: Say it loud! I’m Black and I’m proud!

Louis had a loving and close relationship with his sister Bev over the years and really enjoyed his long conversations with her on the phone. When asked, he always offered sage advice. Louis also loved visiting Bev and her husband Steve at Thanksgiving time and for special events such as the graduation and wedding of his niece Tia. He was very proud of Tia when she graduated from college with a degree in engineering. He took some credit for that, having bought her an erector set for Christmas one year when she was a child.

Louis reconnected with his aunt and uncle and cousins in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He had not been in contact with them for many years prior to that, but he said that he heard his mother’s voice telling him that he needed to call. He and Frank made several trips there starting in 2008. The Dunn family began having reunions shortly thereafter, and Louis really enjoyed spending time with his family from all over the country. The tragedy of Katrina really helped bring his family closer together.

Louis will be remembered as a gentle soul. He was simple in a good way, not pretentious or boastful. He rarely gossiped or talked badly about people. He was a humble person. Despite his great accomplishments in his work at DOR with people with AIDS, his partner Frank only found out at Louis’ retirement party that he had been such an innovator in creating programs for their return to work. Louis was a very forgiving person and carried no grudges. He loved sitting in the living room and looking out the windows at the trees while drinking his coffee. He called it his coffee meditation. By the way, he loved coffee and always had a large variety of coffee on hand at home. He collected coffee mugs from the cities he traveled to, and from many local coffee shops and restaurants. He loved to sit in coffee shops and sip his coffee and people-watch. It was one of his favorite things to do in his later years with Frank. Simple pleasures.

One of Louis’ former coworkers, when she heard of his passing, said this about Louis: He was a class act, funny but never suffered fools, smart, gracious and charming. This describes him almost perfectly.

Louis began having health issues around 2011, and his health declined slowly after that. But he was still able to travel overseas until 2015, and he traveled back East to visit family until 2019. Other medical issues caused him to slow down even more over the next 2 years but he was content to be home and go out to local restaurants and coffee shops, go to church, read, and just relax. Throughout his illness Louis rarely complained. He was a very private person. He had a great faith and accepted his loss of abilities with grace and resolve. Through it all, he always tried to make people smile and laugh. When going up the 2 flights of stairs to his home which was becoming a bit of a struggle, he would stop on the landings to do a little dance as if to say: I’m still here and I’m not done yet!

Louis died peacefully with Frank present on December 15.

He will be greatly missed by many, but his gentle spirit will live on in the hearts of his spouse Frank and all his family and friends and acquaintances.

He is survived by his spouse Frank Leykamm, his sister Beverly (Dunn) Lucas and her husband Stephen Lucas, his niece Tia (Lucas) Cusanelli and her husband Matt Cusanelli, his Aunt Audrey Dunn and his many cousins in New Orleans, Denver and Los Angeles. He is preceded in death by his father Louis Jr. and his mother Barbara and his brother Greg.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Louis’ name to Positive Resource Center or the Most Holy Redeemer AIDS Support Group.