Obituaries Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, February 19, 2009
Edward P. Bunk Jr.
NEW SCOTLAND — Edward P. Bunk Jr. was a passionate man, said his wife — passionate about bike riding, hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, and meeting new people.
He died on Monday, Feb. 23, 2009. He was 56.
“He was just a nice, comfortable person to be around,” said his wife of over 30 years, Cindy Bunk. “I don’t think he ever realized how much people loved him and how wonderful he was. He was just so humble about himself and so giving to others.”
Mr. Bunk grew up in the Voorheesville area. After four years of travel with the United States Air Force, he returned to Voorheesville where he settled down with his wife and went to work for the U.S. Postal Services.
The pair had met, she said, when Mr. Bunk dated her sister. “He lived down the road,” she said.
Mr. Bunk worked for more than 30 years for postal services as a maintenance mechanic. “He didn’t like the environment or the way he was treated,” she said of postal work, “but looking at schematics and fixing things, he was in his glory. He could fix anything — lawnmowers, tractors — you name it.” Her husband would fix anything for anyone, Mrs. Bunk said, and was always willing to lend a helping hand.
Mr. Bunk loved the outdoors and challenged himself in a wide variety of activities. “No hiking trail or biking destination was too steep, too long, or too challenging for Ed,” she wrote in a tribute. “While a young man in his 20s, he rode his bicycle from New York to the California coast in just over a month’s time, taking great pride in achieving his goal to climb the Grand Tetons without a single stop during that upward trek.”
He continued to bicycle after he was married, with his wife on a tandem bike. They would take frequent rides together in the area, to Altamont, Schoharie, Medusa, and Warners Lake. “I rode in back; it was quite a challenge, letting someone in control that has no fear,” said Mrs. Bunk.
“He was the ‘Huff’ part of the ‘Huff & Puff’ title” folks who saw them riding in the Helderbergs gave them, Mrs. Bunk reported.
The Bunks also greatly enjoyed the Adirondacks. They built with their own hands a camp near Garnet Lake — a chalet with a wood foundation. Although the area has since been developed, when the Bunks built the camp in 1987, there was no road. “We had to go through the mud with a wheelbarrow and tools,” said Mrs. Bunk.
The camp is beautiful, she said, and they loved inviting friends to join them there on weekends.
“Ed loved to be surrounded by friends of all ages,” she said. “He always had a story to tell and he made it his mission to turn strangers into new friends by asking question upon question. He had a mind that honed in on the minutest of details, and he was fascinated by people and their lives.”
Mr. Bunk became a well known Forty-Sixer, climbing all 46 of the Adirondack peaks over 4,000 feet many times. He once climbed all 46 in 11 days.
“We went up there pretty much every weekend,” Mrs. Bunk said of their Adirondack camp. They would canoe or hike in the summers and ski or snowshoe in the winters.
She said of her husband’s love of the outdoors, “He just loved the challenge of it. The feel that there were no confining walls. And he loved the people he hooked up with.”
She concluded, “He had character. He was passionate about everything he did. He was just a super, super person.”
****
Mr. Bunk is survived by his wife of over 30 years, Cindy Bunk; by his brothers, Jay Bunk, of Florida, and Larry and his family, of New Hampshire; and many other loving family members and friends.
Relatives and friends are invited to visit at the Reilly & Son Funeral Home in Voorheesville on Friday from 4 to 7 p.m.
— Melissa Hale-Spencer
Allen P. Myers
ALTAMONT — Allen P. Myers, a contractor and an Army veteran, died on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009, surrounded by his family and friends. He was 53.
“He was a self-employed contractor, and a perfectionist in his trade,” his family wrote in a tribute. “He enjoyed the outdoors, and was on avid NASCAR fan.”
Mr. Myers attended Schalmont School and served in the United States Army 82nd Airborne as a detonation expert.
Mr. Myers is survived by his wife, Vickie (Barnard) Myers; his son, Allen Myers; his mother, Lousie LaVallee and her husband, George; his sister, Tina Martin, and her husband, Robert; and his nephew, David Myers.
A memorial service will be held at the Lighthouse Baptist Church, 2919 West Lydius Street in Guilderland at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28.
Arrangements are by Myers Funeral Home of Delmar.