Maynard Dunham(1895-1997)

DUNHAM, SPRING, PAYTON, WELSH, MARBURGER, ROSS, COX

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 9/24/2008 at 09:59:56

Maquoketa Sentinel-Press
August 16, 1997

‘Iowa’s oldest Marine’ dies at the age of 102

The man honored two years ago as Iowa’s oldest combat Marine, and possibly the oldest in America, Sabula native Maynard Dunham, died Tuesday, Aug. 12 at the age of 102.

His passing brings to a close the colorful life of a man who served his country proudly in World War I, had two other careers and always had the time to talk to his neighbors.

Dunham served in the Marines during World War I as a member of the famed “Devil Dogs” 84th Company of the 6th Marines, who were attached to the 2nd Division of the Army in France.

He was wounded twice, once during the first combat seen by his troops, at Belleau Woods in 1918, and a second time in July of that year.

He received the Purple Heart, Medal La Marne and three French service citations as a result of his tour of duty.

Dunham was recognized by the Marine organizations in 1995, when he reached his 100th birthday, by being honored as one of only 41 surviving World War I, Marines in the United States, and the third in age among them at the time.

He was honored locally at a reception at the Sabula VFW, which was attended not only by his friends and neighbors but by many representatives of the Marine Corps as well.

Dunham, who also worked for 47 years as a signal maintainer for the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad and put in a 10-year stint as a justice of the peace in Sabula.

He served as grand marshal for the 1992 Jackson County Fair Parade, and in an interview done by the Sentinel-Press just prior to that event, he talked about his military career.

“I only got scared once, but it sure lasted a long time. I think I was scared all the way back to the states,” he said.

Dunham, who was wounded twice by high explosives, spent about two years fighting in both France and Germany, talked in that interview about some of the friends he made and the tense moments he faced during the war.

“There’s some things you never forget,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion and tears coming to his eyes.

Despite what may have seemed to many as a series of “hard knocks” in his life, he still maintained a cheerful outlook.

He enjoyed running, and said he used to win money for his company’s mess fund by running foot races while in the Marines.

“I don’t mean to brag, but if you catch a big fish, you don’t bring it home through the alley,” he said.

Dunham also said there were two things in his life that were important to him. They were his family and the Marine Corp.

The friends of Maynard Dunham recalled a man who was firm, usually fair, and always with a bit of advice.

Richard “Dick” Smith, Sabula’s retired fire chief, recalled Dunham as a man who had been “old” ever since he came to town.

“Maynard was old when I first came to Sabula in 1945. I joined the American Legion here in town and Maynard was active in the organization. He seemed to have a very keen memory and a sense of humor. You know he was the magistrate here for years of course and he ran his court out of his home. Maynard was always interested in things relating to the military. He never lost his sense of patriotism and of course that probably came from serving in World War I,” Smith recounted.

While he lived in Sabula he was a regular, for 15 years, for the morning coffee klatch in the back of Ackerman’s grocery store.

Tom Ackerman, who ran the store for 18 years, remembered a man who was “pretty much the same from one day to the next.”

“He’d come in for coffee for a couple of hours to visit with the guys in the back of the store. We gave him the captain’s chair at the desk. He deserved it, he was the oldest. He was the one people would ask when a certain building was built in town, when some event happened that no one else could remember. He knew, he was alive then.”

“Our families were sort of intertwined though the years. My mother and his wife burned the midnight oil many a night visiting. I was the same age as some of his kids so we knew each other’s families well. Maynard was pretty even tempered. He didn’t complain about things too much. When I was in high school he was having health problems at the time and would be going to an area hospital for veterans and I remembering thinking Maynard might not be around too long and he lived to 102,” noted Ackerman.

A long time friend and acquaintance in Bellevue; Dave Ries, service manger for Till’s Garage, the local Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick dealership, remembered a relationship with the World War I Marine that stretched over three decades.

“When I first met Maynard it wasn’t under the best of circumstances. I was a ‘minor’ who got caught for underage alcohol consumption and I appeared before Maynard in his magistrate court,” he said.

“He fined me $75, I think, which I thought was fair enough. He was the kind of guy that if you didn’t have the money he’d let you pay the fine in installments. We stayed in touch though the years and when he would bring his car into the garage for service. We traded jokes and good natured joshing. He always kidded me I was trying to get my money back from him every time he would bring his car in,” Ries said.

Bellevue Herald-Leader editor Lowell Carlson recalled “discovering” Dunham in 1981, when the editor did the first of 12 stories connected with Dunham over the course 15 years.

“I had taken his picture at his 100th birthday celebration at the Sabula V. F. W. Club and he was starting to lose some of that ramrod straight appearance. The memories of combat, especially the lunar landscape horror of Belleau Woods, was still on his mind. Perhaps early memories were more powerful than current ones. I know when I looked at him and listened to his stories about ‘The Great War’ it was hearing about history firsthand.”

Jackson County Auditor Mike Cotton, who has known Dunham all his life, said he recalled that he had to go before him as a justice of the peace during his high school years.

“In fact, he gave me my first, and only, ticket when I was in high school,” said Cotton.

The ticket, issued for having too loud a muffler on his 1954 Ford, caused him to have to appear before then-justice of the peace Dunham.

“He was a good conversationalist and always took the time to talk to people,” said Cotton.

State legislator Rick Dickinson, raised in Sabula, also knew Dunham quite well.

Prophetically, he has often told a story about Dunham at many public events.

“He always said that no matter what you do or how great you are or what you have accomplished, the number of people who will come to your funeral will be determined by the weather that day,” said Dickinson.

Those who knew him did not seem to feel the weather was a factor on Friday.

Maynard Dunham (Obituary)

Maynard Dunham, 102, of Sabula, died Tuesday, Aug. 12, 1997 at the Bluff Terrace Nursing Center in Clinton.

Funeral services were held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 15 at the Sabula United Methodist Church, with Rev. Carroll Robinson of the church officiating. Burial was in the Evergreen Cemetery, Sabula.

Visitation was held from 4 until 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14 at the Law-Jones Funeral Home in Sabula.

Mr. Dunham was born Friday, Jan. 25, 1895, in Sabula, to Edward R. and Phoebe A. Spring Dunham.

He married Berneta Mae Payton Dec. 27, 1926, in Mt. Carroll, Ill. She died April 4, 1970 in Clinton.

He served in the U.S. Marines during World War I as a member of the Devil Dogs, 84th Co., 6th Marines, who were attached to the 2nd Army Division in France.

He was honored by the Marine organizations in 1995 as one of only 41 surviving World War I Marines in the United States, and the third-oldest among them.

He also worked as a purchasing store clerk for the Milwaukee Railroad for over 47 years, retiring in 1960.

He was a member of the Sabula United Methodist Church, the Sabula Citizen’s group and the Sabula-Miles Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 5234.

He also was a life member of the Marine Corps League of the Military Order of Devil Dogs, as well as a past Chef-Degare of the “40 and 8” and a member of Resurgham Masonic Lodge 169 for over 70 years.

He enjoyed talking with friends about his experiences as a combat soldier and railroad employee, as well as about his years as a Justice of the Peace in Sabula.

Survivors include four daughters, Jacqueline Welsh and Joleen Marburger of Clinton, Barbara (Mrs. Donald) Ross of Cedar Rapids and Berta (Mrs. Garian) Cox of Chadwick, Ill.; a daughter-in-law, Ruth Dunham of Clinton; 23 grandchildren; and 48 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Berneta, a son, Edward, a brother, a sister and a granddaughter.

Memorials may be made in his name to the Sabula United Methodist Church or a favorite charity.