Selma Bou Dunivant

A visitation will be held Friday, December 10, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Harry J. Will Funeral Home, 37000 Six Mile Rd, Livonia, Michigan 48152. A funeral service will occur Saturday, December 11th at 10:00 AM also at the funeral home. Selma will be laid to rest following the funeral service at Grand Lawn Cemetery in Detroit.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.HarryjWillLivonia.com for the Dunivant family.

Selma B. (Richardson) Dunivant Selma is preceded in death by her loving husband of 66 years; Kenneth Dunivant on November 11, 2021, along with her parents; Arnold B. and Lena Richardson; brother Arlos; daughter Brenda Jean and grandson Steven Taylor. Selma is survived by her children; Karen (Brian) Taylor, Dreama (Paul) Scaglione, Janeen (Barry) Ouber, DeWayne (Laurie) Dunivant; grandchildren; Bryon (Marcy) Traynoff, Brandon Traynoff, Dylan (Catrice) Tarrow, Sarah Tarrow, Rachel Dunivant, Hannah Dunivant; great grandson Marshall Traynoff; brothers Darrell Richardson, Boies (Rhonda) Richardson and sister Retha (Mike) Sox; along with many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews and a large extended family.

A tribute to My Sister by Retha (Richardson) Sox

The arrival of our big sister, Selma, happened on December 2, 1934 at our parent’s home in the Maple Meadow community near Lester, West Virginia. She grew up attending local small schools, played hopscotch and jacks with her girlfriends and enjoyed spending the nights in each other’s homes. She also claimed bragging rights of her tomboy antics including climbing higher in the trees than her brothers. Not sure our mother knew about this.

Life was simple and at times very difficult for Selma, including walking two miles to school every day, even in snow, uphill both ways. This way of life was very real for her. It was the same distance to the church she attended which also provided a social outlet for her. Her friends lived several miles away and her younger brothers, Darrell and Arlos, would usually accompany her as escorts on those country roads.

After she grew older and met Kenn at one of these church functions, our brother Darrell was designated as her chaperone if they travelled away from our home on a date. Darrell fared pretty well on these outings as they provided him with hamburgers, ice cream and any other treats they were partaking of.

Kenn moved to Michigan and he and Selma started a long distance romance. Eventually Kenn proposed. He had limited time off for a wedding so he mailed her engagement ring which she received about a week before the wedding. Selma was not engaged long but she wore that ring proudly. They were married at a local pastor’s home and afterwards our mother made dinner for everyone.

Kenn then swept Selma away to Michigan. This began a new life in so many ways for Selma. She left rural West Virginia and arrived in the big city of Detroit to begin the next phase of her life. This was an adjustment in many ways for her but she gave much credit to “Miss Della” (Dunivant) for advice and support. This obviously worked because I was mesmerized as a little girl by my beautiful and glamorous sister especially with her bright red lipstick. She would apply it over and over in the mirror until she got it right and for which her younger brothers took great joy in teasing her.

She and Kenn’s visits to the farm were highly anticipated by our family. She did her best to spoil me in all the ways she could, including running interference with my parents for permission on certain issues. I was always included in all activities during their visits and enjoyed several trips to Michigan as I grew up. This went a long way in actually opening up the outside world to me at a younger age. There were many tears when it was time to part. Selma was wise to the ways of disappearances by my nieces and getting clothes dirty by my nephew in order to delay the trip. How they packed everyone in the convertible was amazing and thank goodness for night time travel. Selma showered me with gifts along the way but the greatest gifts given to me were Karen, Dreama, Janeen and Dewayne, my nieces and nephew whom I grew up with and absolutely adore to this day.

As a teenager, Boies, our brother, totally admired their new baby blue Chevrolet convertible. As soon as Selma and Kenn realized this, they tossed the keys to Boies and told him to take it for a drive. He had a big time impressing his friends in the neighborhood. Who else would have offered this opportunity to a young teenager. Selma and Kenn included my parents and me on a wonderful camping trip to Canada. What a week of fishing, bathing in frigid lake water, chasing off leeches, campfires, fish fries and the best time ever with family and friends. During the return to Michigan, all of the campers spent the night in a gravel pit that was a convenient pull off location. That night Selma baked an uneven but highly decorated birthday cake with 18 candles to celebrate my 18th birthday. She had planned this in advance and also had a card signed by everyone in attendance which I still have today. I could not have had a better celebration anywhere. Also on this trip, Selma showed much patience with the teenage family members and myself as we flirted shamelessly with passerbys and truck drivers using the famous peace sign out of the back window of the motor home. And she may or may not have been aware of a few cans of beer missing from their stash that week.

After I grew up, I developed a much different and very special sister relationship with Selma. We shared stories, confidences and overall loved spending time with each other. She accepted Mike as a brother, except for the time he walked up behind her and slapped her on her derriere thinking it was me. Wow the shocked look on both of their faces was priceless. It was the first time I had seen Mike blush. But she forgave him and attended our wedding with the girls which made for a crazy magical fun filled week. Mike and I were so thrilled to share this special time with them.

Selma loved her Kenn and supported him in all of his endeavors including motorcycles (had her own helmet), snowmobiling, camping, and maybe flying but not sure about the skydiving part. She did love traveling, entertaining, making new friends and visiting old friends/family around the country. She loved living in Florida but missed her family. We all loved that she had to travel through SC on her way to Michigan which gave us other opportunities to be together in addition to our visits to Florida.

Selma was a lady with a steady calming influence, patience, high morals and was an example to all her family as was our mother Lena (mountain mama) in West Virginia. She had big shoes to fill and she did it well. These values were learned at our farm growing up with the love of family which she passed on to her children and has lasted a lifetime.

The overall beauty of the farmstead and family continued to draw her back to West Virginia as much as possible. Nothing pleased her and us more than meeting up at the farm sharing memories and just being together, hence our own "Country Roads".

Selma was my big sister for which I will be forever grateful. Thank you for all the love and all the things a big sister can be. I love you and will miss you until we can meet again!

To watch the service live on OneRoom please click the link below:

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