Josefine “Jose” Dunbar
Josefine “Jose” Dunbar passed away quietly in her sleep during the early morning hours of July 20, 2021. She was 94 years old. She was born April 24, 1927, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a beautiful alpine village in Southern Germany, the middle-child of five sisters. She met her husband, Sherly Dunbar, shortly after World War II and was married January 9, 1954. They were together for 73 years and married for 66 years until his passing May 9, 2020.
She came to the United States in 1954 and lived a military life in such places as Chicago, Indianapolis, Stuttgart, Germany and St. Paul, Minnesota until Sherly retired in 1967 and then laid down their roots in Onaway, where they raised two boys, Joe and Mark Dunbar, both graduates of Onaway High School.
Though Onaway was no alpine village, she loved the community and the people. She particularly loved going to the Onaway High School band concerts and marveled at the incredible job that Karen Pregitzer did with the band where the music always reminded her of home. During the early years in Onaway, she worked at the Northern Garment Factory and came close to becoming a real-life Norma Ray in trying to establish a union that would improve the working conditions until she left to work at the United Auto Workers Center on Black Lake where she worked for 15 years before both Sherly and Jose retired and moved to Florida and eventually L
Jose had an incredible work ethic and truly believed there was nothing more important than being known as a hard worker. One of her greatest accomplishments was instilling these values in her children. Jose loved to travel and would frequently go back to Germany nearly every year to visit her sisters. Even in retirement, Sherly and Jose were never home for very long as they saw almost every corner of the U.S. in addition to traveling to visit their children and grandchildren in Vicksburg, Mississippi and Miami, Florida.
Sherly and Jose lived a marvelous life and remained active and independent through their waning years. In the end Sherly and Jose were lovingly cared for by Joe and his wife Wendie Dunbar in Vicksburg. Jose is survived by her two youngest sisters, Irmgard Bruce who lives in Illinois, and Christal Schneider who still lives in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In addition to Joe and Wendie Dunbar, and Mark and his wife Ileana Dunbar, Jose had seven grandchildren, Brien, Miles (Noelle), Adam, as well as Kristen Godbey (Josiah), Trevor, Harrison, and Miranda Josefine Dunbar; as well as two great-grandchildren, Aiden and Maxwell.