Lucile Dunham

Lucile Janice Dunham, 91, of Grawn, passed away peacefully on Thursday, July 4th, 2019 at The Villa at Traverse Point in Traverse City, surrounded by the love of her family and the graciousness of The Villa Staff.

Lucile was born to Clayton E. and Jean (Anderson) Yahr on February 26, 1928 in Petoskey MI.

She received her teaching certificate from County Normal, and attended Michigan State University where she graduated with her teaching degree. Lucile started educating young students in one room school houses throughout her career including Bendon, Green Lake and Rice schools. Eventually, Lucile began working at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. There she had many duties including fitting students, staff and faculty with the Camp uniform and performing housemother duties in the Mozart Beethoven dormitory during the Academy year.

In 1974, Lucile left Interlochen to work for the Traverse City Area Public Schools as the accounts payable clerk. She retired from TCAPS in 1989, turning to politics in her next career path. Lucile was an elected official (Trustee) for Blair Township, serving the community for two terms.

During her life, Lucile had many interests such as cooking, baking and had an extensive 200+ collection of cookbooks. Lucile loved playing card games and board games and loved spending time with her cat, Buffy. She adored and doted on her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Lucile was a co-founder of the Chat and Chew club, which began in 1952 playing Bunco each month for over 60 years. She was a member of both the Grawn Fire Department Auxiliary and the Eagles Auxiliary

On August 31, 1951, Lucile married Elmer Dunham. Together they raised three beautiful children, Lynn, Beverly and Sally. Lucile was an exceptional wife, mother, and grandmother, with a huge, kind and caring heart. She never met a person she did not like, or who did not like her. She was a friend to all.

Lucile is survived by her loving husband Elmer, son Lynn (Linda) Dunham, daughters Beverly (Robert “Doc”) Shaffer, and Sally (Roger) Zeits. She is also survived by grandchildren, Eric (Kelley) McLean, Benjamin (Katelyn) Zeits, Mark (Melinda) Zeits, Timothy Zeits, and Paul (Danielle) Zeits, as well as great grandchildren, Sophia McLean, James and William Zeits and twins Alice and Emma Zeits. Other surviving family members are her brothers Marion (June) Yahr, Gerald (Clarie) Yahr, sister, Karen Yahr, sister-in-law Nancy Yahr, and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Ronald Yahr.

A Memorial service will be held 1 pm Thursday, July 11, 2019 at Life Story Funeral Home. The family will greet friends starting at noon. Burial will follow at Maple Grove Cemetery in Grawn. Please visit www.lifestorytc.com to sign the guestbook and share your thoughts with the family.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Grawn Fire Dept., Interlochen Center for the Arts or to the Cherryland Humane Society.

The family would like to thank the staff of The Villa at Traverse Point for their tenderness and caring of Lucile during her residency there.