Edward Walter Dunbar

Edward Walter Dunbar passed peacefully on October 30th, 2024. He is survived by his wife Denise, four children, Jane Rossell, Kiki Grant, Wells Dunbar and Lee Dunbar, and seven grandchildren, Thomas, Teddy, Colin, Emory, Charlie, Jack and Margot. He will be greeted in heaven by daughter Courtney, granddaughter Ashleigh, sister Ruth, and parents Walter and Jessie. Ed was born on April 30th, 1944 to Jessie Matlock and Walter Lee Dunbar in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The family welcomed sister, Ruth in 1948. They eventually settled in Dallas, TX where Ed graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1962. He then attended the University of Texas and Texas Christian University for his bachelors. After graduation he went to UT Law School where he earned his JD in 1970.

He started his long, respected legal career as a public defender for the Dallas Legal Services Foundation. He went beyond the local court rooms and submitted an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court, where he was admitted. The case was won and guaranteed a remedy for people not financially able to pay criminal fines. In the late 1970’s Joe Christie hired Ed to help develop the El Paso Community College. This would become a lifelong project where he served the Community College for over 30 years. He later joined Christie’s law firm and would specialize in school and labor law, serving as the general counsel to the College and other educational institutions and school districts in the area for decades. He appeared before the federal court of appeals on multiple occasions and secured a bright future for the El Paso Community College.

Edward Walter Dunbar was a mountain of a man to his children and grandchildren. Jane and Wells first, then welcomed Kiki and Courtney and completed the circle with Lee. He loved history, especially the stories of the Borderlands and Southwest that he adopted as his home. He drove his children and grandchildren countless miles through ghost towns, missions, abandoned mines, forts, pueblos, and backroads (gravel, dirt, or otherwise). This love of history was passed down and something his children continue to share with their own. To say his will be missed is an understatement, to say he made an impact in his community and the state he loved is an even bigger understatement.

A visitation with Prayer service will be held November 15th starting at 11:00 AM at Funeraria Del Angel Hillcrest West Funeral Home, 5054 Doniphan Dr., El Paso, TX, 79932. Interment will immediately follow at 1:30 PM at Memory Gardens of the Valley, 4900 Mcnutt Rd., Santa Teresa, NM, 88008.