Dwight Arthur Hunter

Dwight Arthur Hunter was born on November 29,1950 in Washington, D.C. in Freedman’s Hospital. He was the second child and first son born to the late Arthur and Arlene Hunter. He married his devoted wife, Deloris Hunter on July 28, 1990 and became a loving father to his son Ryan Hunter, and step-father to William L. Gray and Veronica Gray-Adgerson.

Educated in the District of Columbia public school system, he later attended Montgomery Junior College in Maryland. Dwight was a Christian and accepted Christ at an early at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Beaver Dam, Virginia, where he spent many summers as a youth. He loved Ebenezer and as an adult continued to visit and support the church with financial gifts.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Dwight joined the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in 1971 where he served for almost 33 years before retiring in December 2003. He learned to be “the police” in the 3rd District, was later assigned to the Morals Division, and ended his career in the Paternity Warrants Squad. He made lifelong friends in the department and extended the friendships after retirement through monthly social gatherings at Jaspers Restaurant.

Dwight was a true renaissance man who developed many talents and held a diverse set of interests. Born with a curious mind and a penchant for exploration, Dwight frequently set off on bike riding adventures touring his native city at an early age and would often ride to places beyond where his parents permitted. As a young adult he competed in races, traveling hundreds of miles from D.C. to locations as far away as New York City.

He briefly played football in high school and admitted he wasn’t very good at it, but never lost his love of the game. Dwight later became the biggest fan of the Washington Redskins, and often attended home games in RFK Stadium. He supported the team’s name change to the Commanders, and avidly supported them through ups and downs.

Dwight was also enamored by the sport of Baseball. Early in his career as a police officer, he coached the Boys and Girls Club baseball team in D.C., and no one cheered louder when the Nationals won the world series in 2019. He loved baseball so much that upon his retirement he took a part-time job at the Bay Socks Stadium in Bowie Maryland just to be around the game.

Nurturing a passion for photography, Dwight studied the field while attending Montgomery Junior College. He later turned the hobby into a business, “Visual Expressions” with some of his friends and became skilled enough in the craft to display his photography at local art shows in the D.C. area.

As a youth, he spent his summers in the farmlands of Ashland, Virginia where he developed an interest in hunting. Under the guidance of his grandfather, Walter Winston, and cousin, Dennis Winston, he learned to shoot small game animals like squirrels and rabbits. As an adult, he went on several successful boar hunting expeditions in the hills of Pennsylvania. As his physical ability to chase after larger game began to decline, he lost interest in hunting, however he remained a recreational shooter and outdoor enthusiast.

On the weekends and holidays Dwight would often pile his family into the car to indulge in another passion of his, local and national road trips. He loved to drive to his favorite state, Maine, to see the sites and eat delicious lobster meals. He usually spent the week after Christmas in Hilton Head, South Carolina to ring in the New Year with his wife, Deloris, and his cousin Marlon and wife, Barbara Winston.

Dwight developed a reputation as a man of style who considered it important to dress appropriately for every occasion. He could often be seen wearing fedoras and hand-polished leather shoes for casual events and donning fashionable ball caps and vintage leather bomber jackets for sporting events. This fashion-conscious attitude extended also to the gear he procured to explore his hobbies. He read and researched trade magazines to keep up to date on the latest accessories, gear, and apparel.

But nothing made Dwight happier than fishing. Whether he was looking to catch grouper, triggerfish, flounder, or trout he had the correct rod, reel, hook, line, and sinker to snag his catch. He spent many hours planning charter trips, studying, and honing his skill in the sport. After a successful catch, he used his considerable culinary talents to cook fish for his loved ones. Whether baked or fried, presentation and taste meant everything to him. Cooking was another special talent, and he received many compliments and praise for his infrared fried turkeys on Thanksgiving. However, the family will forever lament that he promised but never delivered a seafood Paella.

Dwight was a proud man with high moral values, and he was a stickler for punctuality. When he said he would be somewhere at a specific time, you could look for him to arrive an hour earlier. He was a particular man who had strong opinions on what he liked and disliked, but was always willing to embrace something new. Dwight exemplified kindness and compassion through his service to others and strove to be an exemplary human being despite privately battling his own vices and imperfections. He had a deep capacity for love, commitment, and generosity, especially for his immediate family and his extended family in Virginia.

On Sunday, February 25, 2024, at 9:04 am Dwight entered into eternal rest at the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Largo, Maryland.

Dwight was preceded in death by his parents, Arthur and Arlene Hunter and his youngest brother, Wayne Hunter. He is survived by his wife Deloris and son Ryan Hunter and stepchildren William Gray and Veronica Gray-Adgerson, grandchildren Rajean and Rodney Adgerson and great-grandson Ramel Stephens Jr., his siblings Brenda Hunter (Sterling), Celeste Robinson (Tony), Payton Hunter (Marietta), his aunt Geraldine Eskridge, his nephew, Jamal Braxton, his nieces Shellee Hunter Jackson, Crystal Bikoi Nkaa, Ulanda Hunter, and Adia Robinson. He is further survived by a host of cousins, other relatives and friends.