Mildred King Dunn
November 16, 1913 - December 17, 2015
Obituary
MILDRED KING DUNN, 102, Seattle patron of the arts, died peacefully in her Magnolia home on December 18th. Born to George and Edith King of Nampa, Idaho, in 1913, she graduated from Stanford University as the first Alumna from the State of Idaho. Soon after graduation, she married a Stanford classmate, Alan F. Kelsey, and moved to Seattle in 1935, so he could accept a job as an aeronautical engineer with the Boeing Co. They were married for twelve years.
In 1948, Mildred married again to a Seattle attorney, Bryant R. Dunn, the one true love of her life. Bryant was one of the early members of the law firm now known as Miller-Nash, Graham and Dunn, and continued to practice law there until his death in 1992.
In their free time, Mildred and Bryant loved traveling, but their greatest joy came from spending time with their family. In particular, they loved spending time cruising the San Juan and Gulf Islands with their grandchildren every summer, and celebrating winter holidays together in Sun Valley, Idaho — where all the grandchildren learned to ski.
A great lover of all the visual and performing arts, Mildred was a particularly generous supporter of the Seattle Art Museum, the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. She served on the Boards of Trustees of numerous arts organizations, both locally and nationally. Her great love of opera inspired her to serve simultaneously on the Boards of the Metropolitan Opera and the Metropolitan Opera National Council.
Mildred was a member of the Sunset Club, the Seattle Tennis Club and a founding member of the Washington Women’s Foundation. She had a passion for American history, which led to her becoming a member of a number of historical societies, among them Winterthur, the National and Washington State Trusts for Historic Preservation, and The Decorative Arts Trust.
Mildred also took a strong interest in the political life of her country, and for many decades she gave generously to conservative causes, candidates, and educational institutions.
She is survived by two children, daughter, Kathleen Dunn Edwards of Seattle, and son, Dennis Hamilton Dunn of Kirkland; by five grandchildren: Robert D. Watt III of Los Altos, CA, Christie Biesold of Mercer Island, Bryant H. Dunn of Hailey, ID, Reagan B. Dunn of Bellevue, and Wendy Watt of Seattle; and by seventeen great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held for Mildred on January 16, 2016, at 3pm at Bonney Watson Funeral Home on Capitol Hill, followed immediately by a reception at the Seattle Tennis Club, 922 McGilvra Blvd. E, Seattle, 98112. The family asks that memorial remembrances be directed to Seattle Opera, Hillsdale College or the Washington Women’s Foundation.