Peter J. Dungan

Peter Joseph Dungan died on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 following a short illness. He was 66.

Peter was born on November 15, 1952, in Washington, D.C., the second child of Mary (Rowley) Dungan and Ralph A. Dungan, Jr.

Pete lived in Virginia until 1964, when the family moved to Santiago, Chile. In 1967 the Dungans returned to the States and settled in Princeton, N.J., where Pete graduated from Princeton High School.

Following high school, he enrolled at New Jersey’s Stockton State College, and in 1978 he graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s in psychology.

After college, Pete ran his own furniture restoration business in Chicago. In 1984, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he lived with his ailing mother Mary until her death in 1987.

Peter then moved to Kodiak, Alaska, where he worked as a commercial fisherman and a substance abuse counselor. He earned his master’s in social work from Eastern Washington University in 1995, after which he worked as a therapist in Nome, Alaska for four years before returning to Kodiak in 1999. Peter lived in Kodiak, where he maintained a private counseling practice, for the next fifteen years.

In 2014, Pete traveled around the country for a time before settling in Colorado, where he lived briefly in Denver and Longmont before landing in Salida.

Both of Peter’s parents died before him. Pete leaves behind his six siblings: Chris, Nancy, Jim, Moira, Paul, and Jenn, and his stepmother Judith. He is also mourned by his nieces and nephews, aunt, uncle and cousins.

Peter loved helping people through his counseling. He also enjoyed meaningful conversation, a rib eye steak from the grill, his dogs Roscoe and Patch, playing guitar, taking drives around his beautiful homes in Alaska and Colorado and a good sleep.

A thoughtful and sensitive introvert with a strong sense of himself, Pete lived his life independently and on his own terms. He prepared to leave this world similarly, carefully attending to the business of wrapping up his life and arranging his hospice care and end-of-life plans.

Pete spent his last few months visiting with family and friends in Alaska and Colorado. He died peacefully at the Howard, CO home of his sister Moira and brother-in-law Bill, with his brother Paul and trusted hospice nurse Kayla also at his side, enjoying a view of the mountains and a breeze in his hair. He was well cared for in his last days, and left his life quietly and without fuss, free from fear and with few regrets. He was much loved, and he will be missed.

In keeping with Pete’s wishes, there will be no funeral service.  Remembrances can be shared at: https://www.forevermissed.com/peter-joseph-dungan/