Bunker, first U.S. Senator from Southern Nevada, dies at 92
Las Vegas NV Sun 22Jan99 L5
By Ed Koch: Las Vegas Sun

Last Thursday was going to be a very special day for 92-year-old life long Church member, Berkeley L. Bunker. It was his second wife Della's birthday. It was also their10th-wedding anniversary. On top of that, the Clark County School District based in Las Vegas, Nevada was going to officially dedicate and name a new school in his honor and he was to be the featured speaker that evening. Though ailing since he lost a leg to diabetes three years ago, Bro. Bunker, a native Nevadan and nonagenarian, was ever sharp of mind. He had memorized and rehearsed his speech numerous times in preparation for that evening.

However, any illness in the aged, especially ones with diabetes, can quickly change one's plans. I guess that day did turn out to be a special for him after all in an eternal way. In the early hours of Thursday morning, he quietly slipped from this world to the next from the complications of pneumonia.

His widow Della went ahead and delivered his speech at the school's dedication ceremony that evening. "Berkeley had rehearsed the words over and over to get them just right," she said a few hours before the ceremony. "Now I'll have to stumble through it." Della, who is several years younger than her late husband, fondly called him "a young old man."

In the brief speech Bro. Bunker wrote that the honor of having a school named for him a "most overwhelming" experience. "This far exceeds my fondest expectations," Bunker wrote. "I'm proud to make some dent in the epilogue of time."

Born in 1906, in the old Southern Nevada Mormon settlement of St. Thomas, (Now under Lake Mead), Bro. Bunker was one of 10 children of Martin and Helen Bunker. His grandfather, Edward Bunker, one of the notable original pioneers of the Salt Lake Valley.

Bro. Bunker was raised on a farm in Moapa Valley. He drove an eight-horse freight team that hauled copper from the surrounding mountains and helped tend to 500 head of cattle. As a teenager, his parents moved in to Las Vegas.

Out of high school, he went on a mission to the southern states. In 1933, he married his high school sweetheart, Lucile, whom he called Angel. She died in 1988. He married Della, a longtime friend, a year later.

He was a gas station owner when he became interested in politics and was elected to three consecutive terms in the Nevada Assembly -- in 1936, '38 and '40. During his second term, Bro. Bunker was speaker of the Assembly and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

In the winter of 1940, Bro. Bunker was appointed to replace Key Pittman in the U. S. Senate. Sen. Pittman had been re-elected but died before his term began.

As a senator, Bunker voted on the declaration of the state of emergency that put America into World War II after President Franklin Roosevelt delivered his famous "day of infamy" speech following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1942, after losing a Senate retainment bid, Bro. Bunker won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1944. In 1946, he lost in another bid for the Senate. Later Bro. Bunker ran for lieutenant governor of Nevada, losing to Republican Paul Laxalt, who would go on to become the state's governor and a U.S. senator.

In the 1980s and '90s, Bunker, who long shunned the idea of retirement, served as a United States bankruptcy trustee, not retiring until 1995.

In the 40's, he and a brother bought interests in the Garrison Mortuary in Las Vegas. It was renamed Bunker Burt Mortuary and later just the Bunker Mortuary. Bro. Bunker served for a time as national president of the Order of the Golden Rule, a funeral director's organization.

Bro. Bunker was a member of the Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Southern Nevada Historical Museum Association, Boy Scouts of America, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society and other civic groups. He was past president of the Las Vegas YMCA and Better Business Bureau.

He was equally active in church service, serving as a bishop, in a stake presidency and as a mission president. Bro. Bunker also led the fund-raising drive that financed the construction of the Las Vegas Temple.

"Berkeley had countless interests and a boundless energy," said the former Della Lee Richards, a retired teacher in the Clark County School District. "He also had great charisma and was a leader."

"He was an outstanding legislator who well represented the state of Nevada in Washington, D.C., and he was a stalwart member of the church," said retired longtime Las Vegas attorney Rulon Earl, a friend. "Berkeley had the best sense of humor and always had a positive outlook, even after he lost a leg. He had a way of making people around him feel good."

Former two-term Nevada Gov. Mike O'Callaghan remembered his longtime friend by saying: "Berkeley, was a most valuable resource during my years in public service. He represented the human treasure that has made Nevada a good place to live and raise families. Berkeley loved his friends and family and in public life treated his few opponents with understanding and kindness."

Current U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a fellow church Member, a close friend and longtime admirer of Bro. Bunker, called him "an inspiration" to Nevada. "In a time when Americans want strong moral leadership, Berkeley was the epitome of morality," Reid said. "Anyone who knew Berkeley Bunker knew he stood for great integrity. He also added, "And he was an excellent speaker -- a real stem-winder from the old school."

Clark County Public Defender Morgan Harris, Bunker's son-in-law, called his father-in-law "a true Nevadan" who got everything he earned through hard work. "His motto was, 'There are no office hours for leaders and there is always room at the top,' " Harris said. "He was a self-taught, self-made man who was well-learned despite not having a college education."

In addition to his wife and son-in-law, Bro. Bunker is survived by two daughters, Ann Harris of Las Vegas and Loretta Derrick and her husband, Paul, of Sandy, Utah; a stepdaughter, Sharla Humphrey of Las Vegas; a stepson, Dr. James Lee Richards, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; a sister, Ann Shipley of Salt Lake City; 22 grandchildren; and 24 great-grandchildren.