My first recollection of William J. Dunn, the subject of this biography, was as a three year old; at a family visit to our paternal grandparents, our parents informed me and my brother Bob that we were about to meet our uncle, whom we would find to be a truly magical person. He was on a business trip from Detroit to Chicago and had arranged a detour into South Bend, Indiana for an hour or two, to meet with his parents to keep them informed of his exploits. My dad informed my older brother Bob, age five, and me, age 3 that we would be in for an exciting, and enjoyable time. We were literally, on needles and pins, during the afternoon in anxious anticipation of “Uncle Bill” to arrive. Then suddenly a taxi appeared in front of grandma’s house, and Uncle Bill climbed out. Dad, addressing my brother and me, said “There he is you can greet him!” We jumped off the porch, on the fly, screaming UNCLE BILL! As we descended upon him, he bent down and scooped us both up, one in each arm, and headed to the porch. My brother Bob, and I, anxiously awaited, for Uncle Bill to complete the pleasantries, with the adults, so we might get some time with him. Finally, it was our turn with Uncle Bill, He was every bit as captivating and entertaining, as we were told he would be. From that initial contact, until our final meeting, after world war 11, his charisma, and the electricity surrounding him, never abated. At the time of this initial encounter with Uncle Bill; the year was 1926, making him twenty years of age and his achievements were so extra ordinary that they seemed to be figments of ones imagination. Yet as I relate in the ensuing pages his advancement and the hurdles he clears I shall continually note the year of the accomplishment, in order for you the reader to do the math, to determine his age at the time of that particular achievement. His father had a difficult time comprehending the inevitable, but it is impossible to nullify what the record clearly bears out, Uncle Bill’s achievements were truly phenomenal. He was a product of the “one room” school house, during all but the final two year of his formal education. Yet he was always capable of competing successfully with those possessing college degrees. He had developed an easy, unassuming, friendly demeanor, molded from his rural environment, during his formative years. His ability to remain focused on his objective, until he attained the desired result, is an inherent trait recurring throughout his entire career. He and his wife Catherine would not only fulfill their desire for world travel but would become authorities on European travel. Uncle Bill’s early mastery of Shakespearean works and the Bible, afforded Him a grammatical excellence, well above the average norm, of students majoring in English. He undoubtedly didn’t realize that he had missed a normal childhood. His mother didn’t realize how well she had prepared her young son for his future, when she taught him to read, at such an early age and it seemed to facilitate his early memory development. Uncle Bill had unwittingly become exceptionally well prepared to begin life in the “real world” at age 16. It appears that he was so well prepared for his future that at age 16 he would boldly venture into the “real” world and follow his dreams, doing exactly what he enjoyed doing, thus “retired at 16.” He was forced to use a modicum of deception on his initial endeavor into the real world, which his mother abhorred, but after he straightened that adventure out, he went on to prove him self capable of doing anything he chose to do. That is why I entitled his biography: “Retired at Six teen”.
