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Writer's pictureJohn Whelchel '15

Remembering Dunbar Abston Jr. '53


Dunbar Abston, class of 1953 and T2 in the Nassoons, died July 9, 2019, at home in Memphis. Some thoughts have been shared by Nick Heyniger, MD of the group at the time: "Dunbar and I had been classmates at Lawrenceville, and he was an outstanding student, one of the very few in our class to take Greek. After we graduated he went off to Harrow School in England, then entered Princeton the following year. He wanted to rejoin his classmates from school, and asked Princeton if he could take both freshman and sophomore classes in one year. The University agreed, and he did. First class brains. [...He] had sung in our Larenceville octet and I recruited both him and Gerry Schoonmaker, also a classmate from Lawrenceville, to come sing with us for a year. The Class of 1952 had only two men in the 'Soons, as I recall, so we needed the voices from my class. And we did the job!"

The Nassoons departing Puerto Rico, April 1953

Notably, during Dunbar's senior year the group had quite the round-up of gigs, including proms at Smith, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Bennett, and Sweetbriar. To top it off, they crooned at private Deb parties in both Wilmington and Philadelphia - quite the haul. Unfortunately, the group was shut out of TF by the Whiffs, 18-0 in a crushing away loss. According to Ford ('54) in the 75th Reunion Book, "We always lost to them because they were better able to hold their liquor!"


Dunbar, rear center, Senior Year OJT

Later in life, Dunbar was a member of Cap and Gown, majored in English, and wrote a thesis on T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets.” He graduated from Harvard Business School before joining the Navy and serving in the Intelligence Division in Morocco. Do share any other memories of Dunbar in the comment section. He is survived by his wife, Connie; four children; four adopted children, 16 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. More rememberances come from the PAW

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