Family- Ted Dunham

Ted Dunham


Ted Dunham was born to my mother, Mary Clark Dunham, after his father was killed working on electrical lines after their marriage, probably in the 1920’s.

I don’t have a copy of Ted’s obituary handy, but he must have been born about 1926 and died approximately 1986. He was sixty 60 years old at least, because I remember him saying that he may have been the first Dunham (Wakefield, Ohio family) to live to be sixty.

Mom married Forest Earl Kegley and they started their family.

When I, born 1932, was very young, Ted lived with my mother’s parents Abraham and Mary Elizabeth Clark on Robinson Ave., just west of the Central Baptist Church, which they attended, in Portsmouth, OH.

Joan, 1928, and Forest (Bud), 1930 were the next born to Mary and Forest Earl Kegley. We

lived a while on Murray Street, then Tenth Street across from Tracy Park. I was five
and Ted must have been twelve or so when the 1937 flood hit Portsmouth and many towns along rivers. I remember that the waters came to the attic of our tenth Street house. I don’t know the timing of Grandpa and Grandma Clark’s move to Vinton Ave. just above the Dreamland Pool and well above the flood stage. I vaguely recall our family living there with them.

A sad story, I hadn’t heard, until just a few years ago from Sharon and Sandy was that Mom was downtown with my younger siblings watching a parade. She noticed a ragged kid sitting on the curb across the street. Sadly, she discovered it was Ted and it broke her heart. She and dad then took Ted into our house, then on McConnell Ave.

Grandma and Grandpa were in their late seventies or eighties when they began raising Ted. Grandma Clark, after Grandpa died, had a one bedroom, kitchen and shared bath with us kids on the second floor of the McConnell Ave. home until she passed away. Mom and Dad gladly shared their home, which was crowded with us kids.


Ted and I had a close relationship when I was young. He got me into lifting sash weights as a body building technique. I was proud of him as my big older brother. Ted was tough enough and must have lived a lot on the streets of Portsmouth.

While Ted was living with us at home, I don’t recall a lot of interchange between him and Dad. I believe they had as solid and respectful a step-relationship as can be had. It didn’t appear to me that there was any difference. I credit all- Ted, Mom, and Dad for that.


Anyway, Ted was bright, very well read, and worked in Dayton at Wright Patterson in Dayton for a short time after graduating from Portsmouth High School. Dad drove the family to visit him there and I was so amazed at the size of those WW II aircraft of that day. Wheels much taller than a man.

Shortly after, he went into the Army. The Army sent him to Lake Forest College in Illinois outside of Chicago because of his high aptitude scores on entry tests. As many youngsters do upon college entry, he must have played a little more than he studied. He may have been a late teenager or just into his twenties. I don’t know the circumstances then, but he took basic training in Texas and shipped overseas, shortly after. That was the case during those years when all able bodies were needed for fighting the war.

Ted must have got to Europe as the American troops were invading the continent. I can’t recall from his censored e-mails and they weren’t allowed to reveal any hint of where they were. I believe he was in the Rainbow Division. He shared a few horror stories of war in that his job, as a medic, was to go to the wounded on the front lines and administer first aid and arrange to get them back to safer areas. He saw all types of injuries and death and was in the lines of fire. He was in Germany for occupation for a while after their surrender.

I don’t recall that Ted ever became a Christian, but I will leave that part of his life to him and God. I know he never stopped reading.


It was great when the war ended in 1945 and Ted returned safely. He was married already to Helen Keyser Dunham and they set up housekeeping. They had RoseAnne and Robin in about the same time that Mom and Dad were having the last of the Kegley kids, Sharon and Sandy. Ted was proud as any father could be.

George, Jim, Mary Lou, and Paul had joined Mom’s and Dad’s family from 1937 through 1948 and Ted had lived away from the family much of that time.

He was able to enjoy the freedoms here in America for the remainder of his life, although many of his fighting compatriots were not afforded that opportunity, or, if so, in a somewhat disabled fashion.

I thank my brother, George, for reminding us that we had never thanked Ted for his WW II efforts. That was, after a recent tribute e-mail for those of WW II that are dying due to their old age now. I appreciate that we were not raised as German or Japanese slaves in bondage, but have enjoyed our lives of freedom and as proud Americans.

I pledge to Ted and all old warriors that I won’t forget their valiant efforts. I will fight to the end to protect those freedoms they assured for us in the Big One.


I welcome my siblings to make any additions or deletions and corrections to this brief history of our older brother, Ted Dunham.




Sam Kegley