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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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DUNN, JAMES EDWARD (1895-1987)

DUNN, JAMES EDWARD, Catholic college teacher and parish priest, Loggieville, 1938-54; b. Blackville, 21 Feb 1895, s/o Thomas Dunn and Mary Elizabeth Hogan; ordained 1926; d. Chatham, 28 Sep 1987.

James E. Dunn was the son of an ex-schoolteacher who was the agent of the Blackville railway station. After attending the superior school at Blackville he worked several years as a telegraph operator. In 1915 he entered St Thomas College, but he left two years later to join the Canadian armed forces. He resumed his studies at St Thomas after the war and was also enrolled for a year at St Francis Xavier University (1920-21). He then spent five years in training for the priesthood at Holy Heart Seminary in Halifax.

Following his ordination in 1926 Dunn joined the staff of St Thomas and taught religion to the preparatory students. He was later head of the commercial department. He organized a drum and bugle band, instructed the college's army cadets, and was in command of the Canadian Officer Training Corps. He was treasurer of the college for many years, and when it received its university charter in 1934 he was among the incorporators. He took an interest in sports in both the college and the larger community and served a term as president of the Miramichi Basketball League.

After he had been at St Thomas for twelve years Dunn was named parish priest at Loggieville, where St Andrew's Church was dedicated on 30 January 1938. In this position he continued to teach part time and sit on the college's board of governors. In 1954 he was appointed priest of the parish of St Thomas Aquinas in Campbellton. He retired in 1969, but for the next six years he acted as a civilian officiating clergyman at CFB Chatham and CFS St Margarets. Later he assumed chaplaincy duties at the Hotel Dieu Hospital. In 1984 St Thomas awarded him an honorary LLD. He was ninety-one years old in 1986 when the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination was celebrated, at which time it was reported that he still had "his noted sense of humor and a large repertoire of jokes for all occasions."

Sources

[b] official records [d] News 30 Sep 1987 / Fraser (STC); Leader 17 Jul 1969, 9 Aug 1994, 20 Jun 1995; New Freeman 5 Jul 1986, 10 Oct 1987; News 2 May 1984; PANB (St Thomas College calendars)


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