Marion Eunice Bunner went to be with her Lord on February 10, at the age of 85, while at home with her family.
Born July 16, 1939, in Ouachita Parish, LA, to Marion and Alma Sims, Marion was the only girl in a family of five brothers. Growing up, she was a good ball player and spent a lot of time outside on the family farm. She earned a teaching degree from Northeast Louisiana State College and, after graduating, moved to St. Louis, to teach third grade in the Ritenour School District. While there, she met her husband Charles Bunner at Marvin Park Methodist Church. Their first date was to a St. Louis Cardinals game, and their mutual love of baseball found them cheering on the Cardinals every season thereafter.
Throughout her life, Marion served faithfully as a godly wife, mother, and grandmother. She loved spending time with her family and made her house a welcoming home for everyone who visited. She was always busy, and her favorite activities included working in the yard and garden, stocking her pantry and freezer with cans of homegrown green beans and bags of purple hull peas, cooking delicious meals for family (her specialties were meatloaf and pumpkin chip muffins), reading (especially Jan Karon novels), and playing games with her children and grandchildren.
She loved singing and actively served in her church, where she taught two- and three-year-old Sunday School classes for many years. Her love for her family and her students was visible throughout her home, which she filled with handcrafted memories. In fact, each Christmas the ornaments that invariably made it onto the tree were the handmade ones from her Sunday School students, children, and grandchildren.
Marion was preceded in death by her parents and five brothers. She is survived by her husband Charles, with whom she recently celebrated sixty years of marriage; their four children: Susan Mertens (Joel), Chip Bunner (Laura), Sandra Keck (Jason), and Steve Bunner (Sarah); twenty-six grandchildren: Joseph, Jack (Nicole), Ruth (Caleb), Anne, Rylee (Jordan), Cale, Colin (Hailey), Ryann, Ellie, Emily, Jacob, Josh, Grace (Justin), Jonathan, Josiah, Faith, Susanna, Sarah, Jed, Lucy, Courtenay, Emma, Tory, Grant, Kaitlin, and Nolan; and four great-grandchildren: Henry, Winnie, Layne, and Melody.
The funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 15, at 11:30 a.m. at Pitman Funeral Home in Wentzville. Visitation will be at Pitman Funeral Home from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. on Friday, February 14, and from 10:30 a.m. until time of service on Saturday. Those honored to serve as her pallbearers are her grandsons.
Memorials may be made to Mt. Zion A.R.P. Church, 861 Highway V, Troy, MO 63379 or to Siteman Cancer Center.
