Melvin Squires Dunkerley of Southampton Dies September 23

Melvin S. Dunkerley of Southampton died peacefully on September 23 in the Bristal Assisted Living facility in Sayville. He was 89.

Dunkerley was born on February 8, 1935 in Jamaica, Queens, to Edith Marie (Squires) and Everett B. Dunkerley. He was raised in Bayport, and graduated from Bayport High School in 1953. He attended Buffalo State College, and served two years in the U.S. Army.

He joined his father Everett and his younger brother Roger, in what eventually became EB Dunkerley and Sons. The original business machine and office supply store was then in Sayville. It was decided that the East End was in need of such a store, and he opened a second branch of the business on North Main Street and built a home in Shinnecock Hills in the mid 1960s.

During his military service, stationed in the Carolinas, he was able to hone his golf skills on the base golf course, so Shinnecock Hills was naturally attractive to him with its rolling hills and many fabled golf courses. He was a long-time member of he Southampton Golf Club and cherished his experiences of acting as a marshal for the U.S. Open held at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

He was also very interested in other types of sports, namely fishing, both surf casting at the ocean, and his real passion, fly fishing. He became so involved in the art of fly fishing that he created, what he called, Fly Tie Heaven in the upper room of his garage. There, twice a month, he and several friends of his would gather around work tables with the intricate tiny vises, and create exotic looking insects with a barbed hook carefully hidden in the feathers and sparkly yarn. He was always very serious about his hobbies.

He never married, but in his later years, he did have a companion, Ida Miller, who had been a bookkeeper for his father at Dunkerley’s. He had promised his father to look after her, which he did so with dedication and compassion until her death in August 2013 at the age of 103.

He was predeceased by his parents, Marie and Everett; and his brother Roger. He is survived by his nieces Helene H. Bettencourt (Paul) and Pauline A. Cunniff; and two grandnephews, Tyler J. and Bradley B. Bettencourt.

A graveside ceremony will be held at the Union Cemetery in Sayville on Tuesday, October 1, at 1 p.m. by the Reverend Paul Lent of the First Presbyterian Church of Southampton.