Freda Dunkin

Funeral services for Freda Jean (Wiggs) Dunkin, 83, Bellflower, Missouri, formerly of West Plains, will be held at 12:00 Noon, Saturday, March 25, 2017 in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Freda passed away at 4:00 a.m., Saturday, March 18, 2017 at the home of her son, Larry W. Dunkin, Sr., in Troy, Missouri.

She was born April 15, 1933 at Alton, Missouri to Leamon Smith Wiggs and Lavetta Irene (Vincent) Wiggs.  Freda was united in marriage to Hanford Ervin Dunkin on October 4, 1950 in Salem, Arkansas. They had two sons – Larry Wayne Dunkin, Sr. and Kenneth Lowell Dunkin, Sr. Freda excelled at her roles in life – wife, mother, homemaker and a loving, hardworking partner to Hanford in the running of their various farms. Freda worked at various jobs in her life but the two she thought and talked about the most were at Con-Ferro Paint and Varnish (Now marketed under the Valspar label) and, for her, her crowning glory, West View Nursing Home and Pleasant Valley Assisted Living Facility. Freda loved caring for her “people” at Pleasant Valley where she served in the capacity of Certified Nursing Assistant and Med-Tec. Freda retired from Pleasant Valley which was an emotional moment for her and her “people”. Freda was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star at Woodside and was a past Worthy Matron.

She is survived by her two sons, Larry Wayne Dunkin, Sr. and wife, Carol, Troy, Missouri and Kenneth Lowell Dunkin, Sr. and wife, Linda, St. Peters, Missouri; four grandchildren, Larry W. Dunkin, Jr. and wife, Marissa, Kenneth L. Dunkin, Jr. and wife, Tina, Susan Byrd and husband,Chris and Jeffrey Dunkin; three step-grandchildren, Jennifer Thomas and husband, Steven, Jessica Cox and Amanda Settles and husband, Michael; eight great-grandchildren; eight step-great-grandchildren; and one sister, Ruth Berry.

Her parents, husband, one brother, Edwin Wiggs and two sisters, Eleanor Dodson and Cecelia Pingleton, precede her in death.

Visitation will be from 11:00 until 12:00 Noon, Saturday, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Howell Memorial Park Cemetery, next to her husband, in the Veterans Section.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.