Donald Dunkerson

OZARK…Donald Gene Dunkerson, 73, of Ozark, Alabama, passed from this life on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at his home.

            There are no public services planned at this time. Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home of Ozark was in charge of arrangements.

            He was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on February 23, 1950, and spent his youth in the Fort Smith-Bonanza-Hackett area. He graduated from Hacket High School and served time in the Navy during the Vietnam Conflict. He returned to Fort Smith and worked at Whirlpool while attending Westark Community College. He later received his Bachelor's Degree from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas, and was sworn into the Army as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation. During his military career he achieved the rank of Captain. He went from working on bombs, to flying helicopters and eventually became a maintenance test pilot for the Cobra and Blackhawk models. After leaving active duty, he taught helicopter maintenance and trained pilots in Saudi Arabia. He was also an instructor at the Alabama Aviation and Technology College in Ozark, Alabama. He was the author of two published children’s books.

          Donald is survived by his three daughters, Rhonda Nelson of Cumming, Georgia, Brandy Geiger of Hoschton, Georgia, and Sherry McTyre of Fort Smith, Arkansas; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; his sister Deloris Griffith of Fort Smith, Arkansas, his brothers Wayne Dunkerson of Hackett, Arkansas, Edward Dunkerson of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Steve Prescott of Barling, Arkansas; as well as numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his mother Norma Jean (Hartsfield) Prescott, his father Edgar Leon Dunkerson, his stepfather Charles Prescott, his brothers Frank Dunkerson and David Prescott and his sister Brenda Kay Dunkerson.