Jo Ann F. “Jo” Dunn died peacefully at the Robert Packer Hospital Skilled Nursing Unit in Towanda on Sunday, November 20, 2022, at the age of 89. She was born on October 3, 1933, to Eugene Edmund and Bertha Irene (Snyder) Fulmer at the McDermott Place in Albany Township, Bradford County. She was the next to the youngest of eight children. They lived in Albany Township until later moving to Cherry Township, Sullivan County on the Airport Road.
She married Lyle Raymond Dunn of Powell on May 6, 1950 and they moved in with her in-laws John Fay and Gretchen (Cranmer) Dunn until November 1955. She helped Lyle with the farm chores in addition to raising a son Edward and daughter Jacquelyn on Dunn Hill. Shortly after moving to Laddsburg in 1955, twin sons Lyle and Larry were born. All of her four children were born before she was 21 years of age. While living in Laddsburg, she worked at Rynveld’s Wreath Factory in addition to growing a large garden, having a barn full of chickens, one cow, three horses, and a couple of pigs. Lyle was a truck driver, operated a bulldozer (built several ponds), and later worked for Triple V Construction, so he seldom was home.
In 1967, Lyle began working at the Bradford County Jail (now the Bradford County Museum) as a dispatcher. Soon thereafter he was hired by Dean Meredith as a Towanda Borough Patrolman, so he moved the family to State Street in Towanda. Jo Ann then worked at Fontaine Weaving (1968-1971), was a nurse’s aide at the Robert Packer Hospital, Towanda Memorial Hospital, and later at the Bradford County Manor (1972-1982). She ran an apartment building on Pine Street, Towanda (1974-1975). She and Lyle installed the trailer park in 1985 on Hettitch Road, Towanda. She and Lyle would later move back into Towanda on Fifth Street. Lyle retired in 1989 and he and Jo Ann moved to Sullivan County near their daughter and son-in-law.
Jo Ann enjoyed quilting, crocheting, creating various items with plastic canvas, playing cards (Pitch, 500, and later Hand & Foot). She enjoyed family times on Taylor Hill Road, Dushore. She was a great cook (learned from her mother-in-law Gretchen). She especially enjoyed being at the Canada cottage on Lake St. Andrew for eleven years (1986-1997) during the summer months. Her and Lyle’s last adventure was traveling with their friends Leon & Joanie O’Hart to Anchorage Alaska in 1997 by way of their RV’s.
Jo Ann was predeceased by her parents (Eugene & Bertha Fulmer), her in-laws (Fay & Gretchen Dunn), her husband Lyle R. Dunn (1997), son Edward L. Dunn (2020), brothers Carl (1968), Glenn (1996), and Wayne (2019); sisters Geraldine Pehonich (1993), Ruth Marshall (2013), Pauline Mulcahy (2017), and Dorothy Baker (2019), and step brother George Brown (2020), several nieces, nephews, cousins, and brothers and sisters-in-law.
Jo Ann is survived by a daughter Jacquelyn Gretchen Rouse (Michael), sons Larry Joseph Dunn (Sally), and Lyle James Dunn, all of Dushore. Also surviving are 14 Grandchildren, 16 Great Grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, daughter-in-law Polly Dunn of Beaver, PA, sister-in-law Ruth Fulmer of Muncy Valley, PA and cousins. She especially enjoyed the visits from family and friends.
Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Friday, November 25, at McCarty-Thomas Funeral Home, 119 Carpenter St., Dushore with Pastor Ron Dyer officiating. Burial will follow in Franklin Center Cemetery, Franklindale. Friends may call from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home.
The family will provide the flowers and suggest memorial contributions to a charity of one’s choice.
Expressions of sympathy may be sent to the family at http://www.mccartythomas.com.
