William Reed Chunn

William Reed Chunn, 87, a long-time resident of Grants Pass, OR, died Wednesday, January 2, 2008. He will be remembered by his many friends and relatives for his quick wit, his love of music and dancing, and his inquiring mind.

The oldest child and only son of William Beam Chunn and Ethel Lydia Reed, former Grants Pass residents, Mr. Chunn was born February 8, 1920, in Hettinger, ND. He grew up in Hettinger, as well as in Lodgepole, SD, and Ridgefield, WA. He graduated from Hettinger High School and attended Dickinson State College in Dickinson, ND. When World War II broke out, he was recruited by Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank, CA, to work as the person responsible for making the final repairs on P-38 and P-80 jet fighters before they were approved for flight. While there, he met and married another Lockheed employee, Azalia Z. Haraldson whom he married on September 17, 1943 in Wee Kirk O’ the Heather – Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.

After the war, Mr. Chunn was employed by Day & Night Manufacturing Co. in Monrovia, CA, where he worked for 30 years until his retirement. At the time of his retirement, he was the Plant Superintendent of the 60-acre plant in La Puente, CA. The men who worked for him once described him as a “mechanical genius” who could just look at a machine and instantly diagnose its problem. After his retirement, Mr. Chunn moved to Grants Pass, OR, where his mother and other relatives lived.

A hard worker by nature, Mr. Chunn was never one to sit idly by when there was a job to be done! From the time he was a lad on the North Dakota prairie, he was always active and curious. He scoured the prairies for Sioux arrowheads, participated in cattle drives, and worked for his dad at the family service station in downtown Hettinger. He was a precise and meticulous worker, and soon earned a reputation for being responsible and industrious. When he and his eldest sister graduated from high school, he paid for their graduation pictures by delivering loads of coal to the photographer. During the lean years of the Depression, if there was an odd job to be had, you can be sure that he was among the first to apply for it!

Mr. Chunn had many hobbies and interests, including reading, photography, horse-raising, history, computers, genealogy, politics, music, ballroom dancing, and was a masterful teller of humorous anecdotes and jokes. Growing up on the prairie during the Depression taught him the value of recycling long before it became the “right” thing to do. He always had some sort of building project in process, and most often accomplished it by “borrowing” parts from an old building or piece of equipment and using them in new ways, often changing their function. There were very few skills that he lacked because he needed to learn to be self-sufficient to survive the prairie life. After his retirement, he taught many of these skills to his grandson to enable him to complete the rank of Eagle Scout. He was a member of Masonic Lodge No. 305 of Monrovia, CA, Oregon Old Time Fiddlers, Scandinavian Heritage Club, and a local computer club.
Mr. Chunn is survived by his wife, Azalia; his daughters, Letha Chunn-Mendivil, Chula Vista, CA, and Susan Chunn, El Cajon, CA; two grandchildren, Katharine Mendivil of Long Beach, CA, and David Mendivil of San Luis Obispo, CA; five sisters, Lois Anderson, Canby, MN; Amy (Mrs. Del) McNalley, Mandan, ND; Ethel (Mrs. James) Henderson, Newberg, OR; Ruth Holton, Applegate, OR; Nona (Mrs. Wallace) Pedrazzini, Mountain Home, ID; and 28 nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by four sisters, Elsie (Mrs. Ardmore) Thompson, Hettinger, ND; Iris (Mrs. Russell) Stuart, Bismarck, ND; Lucy (Mrs. William) Flaming, Grants Pass, OR; Nina (Mrs. Dwight) Jessup of Pleasant Hill, OR; four half-siblings, Glen W. Chunn, Veda (Mrs. Ralph) Bush; Myrtle (Mrs. John) Ady; and Carl C. Chunn, all of WA; a niece and a nephew.

Services will be held Monday, January 7, 2008, at the Hull & Hull Chapel, 612 NW “A” St., Grants Pass, OR. In lieu of flowers, donat