Obituary: Atwood Packard “Woody” Dunham Jr.

**Maine educator and Air Force veteran Atwood Packard “Woody” Dunham Jr. dies at 95** **Freeport, Maine** – Atwood Packard “Woody” Dunham Jr., a longtime educator, World War II‑era Air Force veteran, and devoted family patriarch, passed away on Sept. 27, 2026 at the Horizons Care Center in Brunswick, Maine. He was 95. Dunham was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, on March 10, 1931, to Atwood Packard Dunham, Sr. and Edna Foye Dunham. After graduating from Wesleyan University in 1953, he joined the U.S. Air Force to serve during the Korean War. While stationed in Korea, he discovered his passion for teaching, helping fellow airmen prepare for exams and instructing Korean personnel in mathematics. That experience shaped his lifelong belief that education is the cornerstone of a strong society. Following an honorable discharge, Dunham pursued graduate studies at Boston University, earning a Master of Education in 1958. He began his teaching career in Mount Kisco, New York, and returned to Wesleyan each summer for its Graduate Liberal Studies Program in mathematics, completing it in 1967. It was during this period that he met Marilyn, whom he married and later moved to Wellesley, Massachusetts. The couple raised two children—Margaret “Meg” (Gregory) and Jonathan “Jon” (Rebecca)—and celebrated more than six decades of marriage, a testament to their lifelong commitment, “until death do us part.” Dunham’s professional life spanned three decades. After his initial years in New York, he accepted a position at Newton North High School in Massachusetts, where he taught mathematics and eventually served as an administrative principal. He retired in 1993, citing a desire to spend more time with family and pursue personal interests. Beyond the classroom, Dunham was an avid sailor, often found charting the open waters of the Atlantic. He also cultivated a garden on his home lawn, a quiet homage to the “Victory Gardens” of his youth, and could frequently be heard the Boston Red Sox playing on a portable radio as he worked the soil. His love of nature and learning extended into later years when he became a regular participant in Friends of Bowdoin College, attending and auditing numerous Italian courses, and maintaining active membership in the Old Stone Post Investment Club, the Harraseeket Yacht Club, and the South Freeport Congregational Church. The family announced that Dunham was preceded in death by his wife Marilyn, his parents, and his sisters Ann Dunham Woodward and Mary Dunham Scott. He is survived by his two children and five grandchildren, all of whom share his enduring commitment to education and civic engagement. An interment and memorial service will be held at a later date. Further details will be provided by the family. Arrangements are being coordinated through Stetson’s Funeral Home, located at 12 Federal Street, Brunswick. The family invites friends, former students, and community members to submit condolences, memories, and photographs via the funeral home’s website at . In lieu of flowers, the Dunham family respectfully asks that donations be made to an organization that promotes youth education or strengthens democratic institutions, honoring Woody’s lifelong belief in the power of knowledge and civic duty.