Mr Dunkum (he preferred that over Dr. though he was entitled to that honorific) was a great teacher. He could have taught at pretty near any college but he preferred TCW because, "it is alive". I had him for several physics courses (regular and AP) and enjoyed them thrououghly. 50 years later I owe a great deal of my continuing career as an Engineer to his inspiration and motivation.
One Story: Most folks did not know that he was a sever hemophiliac, that is why he always sported a beard. It hid scares from dental surgury gone wrong. In the fall of our senior year he had to have his 4 wisdom teeth removed he was on deaths door and received over 50 units of blood to finally pull him through. We had a blood drive for him in the auditorium and I believe over 100 pints were donated. Imagine our joy when he came back after the Christmas break.
That spring he keeps me after class and confides in me his bucket list desire to learn how to ride a bicycle, and he wanted me to help him get one and teach him how to ride. I was horrified, he was persistent. I sought council from my father who of course knew him well. To my suprise my father encouraged me, he said " if any one can do it you can". So we got him a bicycle with a "womans" frame and flat handlebars. I taught him at the track on Saturday mornings progressively. By the time of graduation he could ride around the track.
My freshman year of college he wrote me and told me of a day bicycling to see the monuments in DC he was thrilled to have fulfilled that task.
Thanks, Burton, for those wonderful stories about Mr. Dunkum, I didn't know about any of that. And I didn't study physics at all, but Mr. Dunkum was still one of my absotely favorite teachers.
He taught a special English class one sumester on Science in Literature. I'm not sure how I even got in, there were very few students, but I did and it was a life-changing experience. We followed the St. John's College structure (I believe), in which students sat around one large table, addressing each other as Mister and Miss, and engaging in throught-provoking discussion on the themes of the volumes and volumes of work that we read. And that work was absolutely astonishing. From Lucretius to Anthony Burgess, we all went on an incredible excursion, and somehow, each and every one of us rose to the occaision and was able to contribute. To be treated with such respect and equality, let alone faith, was a remarkable experience.
I remember once discussing art with Mr. Dunkum and he said, "You must have Art and Science." Sometime after that, he performed in a student/teacher talent show. He was quite an accomplished pianist, and walked on stage in his clipped, almost militaristic fashion, where he proceeded to sit down, and entirely miss the piano stool. He got up, brushed himself off and commenced playing a concerto in which he continued to fall down, bump his head, and commit other brilliantly timed explosions of comic brilliance, all while still playing perfectly.
Mr. Dunkum certainly had Science. And he also had Art. And we who were fortunate enough to experience him got the best of both.
Great stories and insight into what a wonderful person he was.
His Physics class was one I always looked forward to attending. He really made learning fun and his personality had so much to do with that.
A year of physics was mandatory at West Point sophomore year and I remember how disappointed I was on my first day of class that it would not be the same "fun" experience I had with Mr Dunkum. Of course West Point specialized in taking the fun out of everything, but it made me appreciate Mr Dunkum even more!
Matt....I was in Mr. Dunkum's English class with you...Who could ever forget Lucretius: HOW SWEET IT IS....!
I saw Jane Hanna's photos of you from the reunion I did not attend, which made me smile for sure. I absolutely loved Mr. Dunkum - I had physics with him, too. He was such a bright spot among the faculty. :- ) Julie
I was in Dunkum's English class, too! Lucretius's "The Way Things Are" (a "hip" translation of "On the Nature of Things"), Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis," Bertolt Brecht's "Galileo," Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "The Physicists"... It was great. But later, when I was home from college and visited Mr. D., he told me that the class had been a "failed experiment" and that he wouldn't teach it again. I felt that I had let him down. It was shattering because I had enjoyed the class so much. // He was a remarkable teacher — dedicated, creative, and funny. And he wasn't the only one at T.C. It was a special place full of special people.
Burton Bruce
Mr Dunkum (he preferred that over Dr. though he was entitled to that honorific) was a great teacher. He could have taught at pretty near any college but he preferred TCW because, "it is alive". I had him for several physics courses (regular and AP) and enjoyed them thrououghly. 50 years later I owe a great deal of my continuing career as an Engineer to his inspiration and motivation.
One Story: Most folks did not know that he was a sever hemophiliac, that is why he always sported a beard. It hid scares from dental surgury gone wrong. In the fall of our senior year he had to have his 4 wisdom teeth removed he was on deaths door and received over 50 units of blood to finally pull him through. We had a blood drive for him in the auditorium and I believe over 100 pints were donated. Imagine our joy when he came back after the Christmas break.
That spring he keeps me after class and confides in me his bucket list desire to learn how to ride a bicycle, and he wanted me to help him get one and teach him how to ride. I was horrified, he was persistent. I sought council from my father who of course knew him well. To my suprise my father encouraged me, he said " if any one can do it you can". So we got him a bicycle with a "womans" frame and flat handlebars. I taught him at the track on Saturday mornings progressively. By the time of graduation he could ride around the track.
My freshman year of college he wrote me and told me of a day bicycling to see the monuments in DC he was thrilled to have fulfilled that task.
Keith Barr McCutcheon, Jr.
Great story Burr. And good for you to have given him that gift.
Matthew "Matt" Mitler
Thanks, Burton, for those wonderful stories about Mr. Dunkum, I didn't know about any of that. And I didn't study physics at all, but Mr. Dunkum was still one of my absotely favorite teachers.
He taught a special English class one sumester on Science in Literature. I'm not sure how I even got in, there were very few students, but I did and it was a life-changing experience. We followed the St. John's College structure (I believe), in which students sat around one large table, addressing each other as Mister and Miss, and engaging in throught-provoking discussion on the themes of the volumes and volumes of work that we read. And that work was absolutely astonishing. From Lucretius to Anthony Burgess, we all went on an incredible excursion, and somehow, each and every one of us rose to the occaision and was able to contribute. To be treated with such respect and equality, let alone faith, was a remarkable experience.
I remember once discussing art with Mr. Dunkum and he said, "You must have Art and Science." Sometime after that, he performed in a student/teacher talent show. He was quite an accomplished pianist, and walked on stage in his clipped, almost militaristic fashion, where he proceeded to sit down, and entirely miss the piano stool. He got up, brushed himself off and commenced playing a concerto in which he continued to fall down, bump his head, and commit other brilliantly timed explosions of comic brilliance, all while still playing perfectly.
Mr. Dunkum certainly had Science. And he also had Art. And we who were fortunate enough to experience him got the best of both.
Fred Alderson, Jr. (Alderson)
Great stories and insight into what a wonderful person he was.
His Physics class was one I always looked forward to attending. He really made learning fun and his personality had so much to do with that.
A year of physics was mandatory at West Point sophomore year and I remember how disappointed I was on my first day of class that it would not be the same "fun" experience I had with Mr Dunkum. Of course West Point specialized in taking the fun out of everything, but it made me appreciate Mr Dunkum even more!
Julia "Julie" Drinkard (Fox)
Matt....I was in Mr. Dunkum's English class with you...Who could ever forget Lucretius: HOW SWEET IT IS....!
I saw Jane Hanna's photos of you from the reunion I did not attend, which made me smile for sure. I absolutely loved Mr. Dunkum - I had physics with him, too. He was such a bright spot among the faculty. :- ) Julie
Robert . Coontz ('74)
I was in Dunkum's English class, too! Lucretius's "The Way Things Are" (a "hip" translation of "On the Nature of Things"), Francis Bacon's "The New Atlantis," Bertolt Brecht's "Galileo," Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "The Physicists"... It was great. But later, when I was home from college and visited Mr. D., he told me that the class had been a "failed experiment" and that he wouldn't teach it again. I felt that I had let him down. It was shattering because I had enjoyed the class so much. // He was a remarkable teacher — dedicated, creative, and funny. And he wasn't the only one at T.C. It was a special place full of special people.