Wanda Dungey Thurmond

My Grandma Dungey told me that she would put my dad in the wagon and pull him down to see his step grandmother Mary (Copley) Harper. Grandma Dungey said she would kiss and kiss on him and they were real close. She also raised Grandma Dungey. Grandma Harper passed when my dad was 20 years in Feb 1956 and she is buried next to her husband Lee Harper at Chain Lake Cemetery in Cassopolis, Michigan that is also where my dad parents Lolen and Eunice Dungey are buried.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

This is a picture of three generations Jonathan Warren Dungey-Bryan on left, Warren H. Dungey Jr. in the middle and his daughter Shelly on the right. This is a picture that I took downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan at Bronson park at the New Years celebration on New Years Eve 2015. We saw a yoyo man and Jonathan won a yoyo, we saw lego city and we had something to eat. The celebration starts at 5pm every year and ends after midnight with a ball drop and there is a horse and buggy ride. Every church downtown Kalamazoo and the library have events all night long celebrating the New Year.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

This is a picture of Shelly when she was 29 years old in January 2015. She picture was taken at Finley Restaurant here in Kalamazoo, Michigan it is a family tradition to go there for our family birthdays. We were celebrating her dads Warren Jr. birthday.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

My brother Warren had one daughter name Shelly Lyn Dungey and she was born in 1986. My dad was 51 years old and he was a proud grandfather. He would get on the floor and play with Shelly and buy her candy even when her mother said no. He spoiled her. We all spent several holidays together. Shelly dad Warren went to jail for a couple of years and her birth mom was unable to take care of her so I went to court and got custody. I raised Shelly as my daughter. She was 18 months old when I got custody and I moved her to Detroit, Michigan with me. We would drive back and forth to and from Detroit to Kalamazoo on holidays to spend with my dad and my grandma Dungey. She is five years old in the picture by herself and the picture with me she is 12 years old. We moved back to Kalamazoo when she was 10 and she graduated from the same high school as I did Kalamazoo Central High School.

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May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

My dad had three favorite cousins that he went to school with in Cassopolis, Michigan. Billy, Herman and Leland Dungey. Even after high school Herman moved to Lansing, Michigan area and my dad and him would visit back and forth from Kalamazoo to Lansing. I don't have a picture of Leland Dungey. Billy, Herman and Leland Dungey were brothers and their father (Verley Dungey) and my dad father Lolen Dungey were brothers. My dad like to drink his beer and go to night clubs and I know Billy like to go fishing.

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May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

This is a picture of my dad and me when I was 26 years old at Momma Snell house on Hopkins Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Christmas Day in 1986. My dad had a car accident when I was about six years old and he got a bone infection in his left arm and the doctor amputated it. He didn't let that stop him from working, dancing or dating. Now when I look back that must of been a hard adjustment.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

This is a picture of my brother Warren when he joined the navy and passed boot camp. He had boot camp in Springfield, IL and I went to his graduation with my dad and Momma Snell and Grandma Dungey. Picture taken in 1972.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

This is a picture when I graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1979. Momma Snell straighten my hair with hot combs and curled it. When I was watching her do it in the mirror I said I have never looked the beautiful before. She could do hair great and she also was a great cook. I could talk to her about anything she was a wise strong woman.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

Seven years later after my parents got divorce. My dad was still living in Kalamazoo and my brother and I was living in Vandalia, Michigan with Grandma and Grandpa Dungey. My dad meet this sweet lady name Alma Lee (Coleman) Snell. They like to go out dancing and she made this black dress she has on in the picture. She had seven children and he loved her and I eventually fell in love with her also. I enjoyed hanging out with her children she would take them to parks and roller skating. My grandfather always said if you marry her you are going to take your two children and you both will have nine together. That wouldn't been a problem with Momma Snell as I called her because she treated my brother and I like we were her biological children. I was 12 years old when they got together and Warren was 16 years old. RIP Momma Snell she just passed last year in January 2017.

May 16, 2018

Wanda Dungey Thurmond

This is a picture of my dads parents together at their house on Edwards Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Aprox taken 1964. A picture of my dad and mom are on the wall in this picture.

May 16, 2018