DUNBAR, Jessie Marie Dunbar

        Funeral mass for Jessie Marie Dunbar, 91, the sister of a Gillette woman, will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lawton, Okla., with the Rev. James D. M. Stafford officiating. A wake service will be at 7 p.m. Monday at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Lawton under the direction of Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home.
        Mrs. Dunbar, of Lawton, died Saturday, March 31, 2007, at a local nursing center. She was born Nov. 15, 1915, to pioneers Arthur Franklin and Anna (Poiry) Pittman east of Lawton. She began her first teaching position at age 18 at Blue Beaver school and later Lone Jack. She obtained her degree from Oklahoma College for Women. She retired in 1968. On Nov. 15, 1940, she married Paul Dunbar in Duncan, Okla. He died Nov. 26, 1992. She worked in the shipyards in Oakland, Calif., during World War II, being a master welder on the Victory Ships. She worked with her son, Frank, at Dunbar Oil Company and, at one time, owned and operated “The Dinner House” Restaurant in Lawton.
        Survivors include one brother and a sister, Dorothy Carter of Gillette; and 33 nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by parents, her husband, her son, three brothers and three sisters. Memorial contributions may be made to the Cameron University Foundation, Inc., Attention: Jessie Pittman Dunbar Scholarship, 2800 W. Gore, Lawton, OK 73505 or to the St. Mary's Catholic School Endowment Fund, 611 SW A Ave., Lawton, OK 73501. Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.