Denise Ann Dunbar, 57, of Lafayette, went to be with the Lord at 12:45 a.m. Sunday, September 5, 2021, surrounded by her loving family.
Denise was born June 17, 1964, in Lafayette, Indiana to Joe E. and Tinie A. (Ubbinga) Dunbar. She grew up working on the family farm in Brookston, Indiana. A ten-year 4-H member, she showed livestock and participated very successfully in many diverse project areas, including foods, electricity and most notably, tractor maintenance, where she and her sister were the first two female drivers to compete at the state level.
Denise graduated from Tri-County High School in 1982, where she was an excellent student. Denise was a standout athlete in volleyball, track and field and basketball, where she earned the nickname “Truck” for her tenacity in the paint. She then received an athletic scholarship to attend Valparaiso University, earning a B.S. in Math Education in 1986, while also playing basketball, field hockey and softball.
Denise began her coaching and teaching career at Boone Grove High School, where she taught math and coached basketball and volleyball from 1988 to 1991. She then attended graduate school at Manakato State University in Minnesota from 1992 to 1994, working as a graduate assistant basketball coach. In 1995, she accepted a full-time assistant basketball coaching position at the University of Massachusetts, in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 2000, she moved to Platteville, Wisconsin, where she became the women’s head basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin, Platteville. Denise had a passion for coaching and mentoring players, a passion that eventually earned her Coach of the Year for Division III for the State of Wisconsin. After six seasons in Platteville, she decided to return to the Lafayette area to be closer to her family, where she then taught math and coached basketball and volleyball for several years, first at Central Catholic High School then North Montgomery High School.
After 21 years of coaching and teaching, Denise decided to change course. She first worked in sales for Tru-Green in Lafayette, Indiana, then became a medical billing and coding specialist in the chiropractic field working as the Office Manager, first in Southern California from 2013 to 2016, and then back in Lafayette, Indiana, from 2016 to the present.
In addition to being an athlete and advocate for women’s sports, Denise was also a life-long Purdue sports fan and Cubs fan. She also enjoyed golfing with friends and playing cards with her extensive family. Her family meant the world to her, and she returned to the Lafayette area to live with and assist her parents later in life, as well as to spend more time with her many family members.
In addition to her parents, she is survived by her four siblings: Evelyn (the late Robert Jr.) Leader, Pamela (David) Crowell, Bryan (Susan) Dunbar and Marvin (Dawn) Dunbar; ten nieces and nephews: Katrina (Chris) Dye, Kyle (Morgan) Kurtz, Brandon (Sarah) Kurtz, Janelle (Daren) Hudson, Jared (Hailey) Crowell, Justinie (Kaleb Walker) Crowell, Michael Dunbar, Nicole Dunbar, Gavin Dunbar and Anna Grace Dunbar; three aunts: Mary Lou Curtis, Wilma (Jack) Lewellyn and Anna Boettcher; eleven great nieces and nephews, many cousins and other relatives too numerous to name. She is preceded in death by a great nephew, Axel Kurtz.
Friends may call from 4-8 p.m. (EDT) Thursday, September 9, 2021 at Wolcott Christian Church (124 W. North St. Wolcott, Indiana) and also from 10 a.m. until the time of funeral service at 11 a.m. Friday, September 10, 2021 also at the Wolcott Christian Church; Pastor Tom Bennett to officiate. Following the funeral, a luncheon for food and continued fellowship will be held prior to the interment to follow in Concord Cemetery, Lafayette.
The family does request the wearing of masks and social distancing for the safety of all involved.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the White County Community Foundation- in the memo: Tri-County Education Fund, The White County 4-H Association or the Women’s Sports Foundation “National Girls and Women in Sports Day”.
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. – Martin Luther King Junior
We love you to pieces.
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