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Kindness is a language
which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.
-- Mark Twain |
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Back to Member
Directory
Terry
Dunkle
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Yes, I took the 175th anniversary group photo that appears on
this website's homepage. Less than a
minute after Melody Montgomery (the lady in the black dress on
the right side of the group photo) snapped this picture, I
jumped down from my pedestal and the crowd was treated to the
sight of an overweight 56-year-old nearly falling on his face. |
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About Me and King Street
Church |
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My wife, Mary, and I joined the church in 1994, a year
after moving to a bigger house on nearby
Kilian Drive. We had
lived elsewhere in Danbury since 1984. We were drawn to
the church by its picturesque appearance. On our first
visit, we were delighted to find that its members were not
only genuinely friendly, but tolerant of one another's differences in
a good
old-fashioned New England way. Today the church is a
central part of our lives, a place of respite and
fellowship -- like an extra room in our house where many
of our friends live. Both Mary and I sing
in the church choir. She's a soprano; I'm a bass-baritone
but lately have been singing tenor. I have an unusually
wide range, which more than makes up for the mediocrity of
my voice. Music is important to me, for reasons you will
appreciate if you read this
little essay I published in the church bulletin one Memorial Day.
In our 13 years at King Street, Mary and I have served
in just about every team, including Deacons, Council,
Music, Religious Education, and Stewardship. We've also
ushered, served as liturgists, chaired or helped with the
annual church fair, and (in my case)
performed at the
annual talent show and benefit auction.
One of my favorite
activities is helping to publicize the church and its
events, by taking photographs, writing and submitting news
releases, creating content for the website, and
broadcasting e-mails containing pictures and music. (Example.) All of
these capitalize on my background as a journalist (see
below).
Some of my favorite moments at King Street:
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Writing and
acting in Casablanket,
a parody of the famous movie starring co-pastors
Roger and Sandy Daly, presented at the 2002 talent
auction. (Here's the script.)
- Kenny Lee's funeral,
where I learned just how valiantly he had defied his
polio, even playing baseball and football on crutches.
- January 1, 2006, when I preached
my first sermon.
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Walking or running past the
church more than 3000 times (it's on my daily 3.5-mile
circuit). Seeing it shining in the night; basking in
the sunshine; enduring snow, sleet, or rain. Thinking how many souls it has saved, refreshed,
inspired, and comforted in the century and a half since
it was built, and how many more will pass its way after
I am laid to rest -- perhaps in its quaint little
graveyard near Kenny Lee.
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More About Me |
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The
creek where I was born is famous for fly-fishing,
but all I ever wanted to do was photograph it. I am
still haunted by its beauty, and make pictures every
time I visit. I have taken hundreds from this very
spot. |
I grew up in the wilds of northern Pennsylvania, in a
place called the Endless Mountains. From my childhood I
loved both literature and science, and so
naturally I became a science journalist. Later, I worked
at Reader's Digest for a dozen years, where I
served as editor to many famous writers, business
leaders, politicians, and other public figures. I
jumped to the Web in 1996, where I helped build a
daily personalized news service called
HealthDay. |
Since
1999, I have run my own company,
DietPower, Inc.,
which develops and sells weight-loss and nutrition
software, news, and feature articles on the Web. I am also
an editorial
consultant to magazines and websites. Because my
company is in my house, I have one of the easiest commutes
in Danbury -- and plenty of flexibility to help with
the work of my church.
Mary and I will celebrate our 35th wedding
anniversary next July. We met as news reporters, and
worked together on two papers before we married. She is
now Vice President, Communications, for the National
Organization for Rare Disorders, based in Danbury, and
runs its website.
Formerly, she worked in PR at Danbury Hospital and was a
wheel in PR at Penn State.
Click to see her member
page.
Our son John, 26, lives in Danbury and works
in the quality assurance department of Curtis Packaging, a
company in Sandy Hook that prints a lot of the packaging
you see in your supermarket, at the mall, or online.
Bill, 23, works for a large
advertising agency in midtown Manhattan.
He graduated from Penn State in 2005 with a degree in
marketing and international business and a minor in
Spanish.
Tom, 14, is a
freshman at Danbury High School and is interested in computers, math, and
learning to be the world's best drummer. In his spare
time, he also ships all the CDs that DietPower sends to
its customers.
Wally the Schnauzer, 13,
seems to be interested only in his food dish. |
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