Peter Joseph Dungan

Peter Joseph Dungan, 66, died Oct. 2, 2019, following a short illness.

He died in Howard at the home of his sister Moira and brother-in-law Bill, with his brother Paul and hospice nurse Kayla at his side.

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

He 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 he 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 degree in psychology.

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

He then moved to Kodiak, Alaska, where he worked as a commercial fisherman and a substance abuse counselor.

He earned his master’s degree 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.

Mr. Dungan lived in Kodiak, where he maintained a private counseling practice, for the next 15 years.

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

His family said he 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 homes in Alaska and Colorado and a good sleep.

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

Mr. Dungan spent his last few months visiting with family and friends in Alaska and Colorado. His family said he died enjoying a view of the mountains and a breeze in his hair, and he left his life quietly and without fuss, free from fear and with few regrets.

They said he was much loved and will be missed.

Mr. Dungan was preceded in death by his parents.

Survivors include his siblings, Chris, Nancy, Jim, Moira, Paul and Jenn; his stepmother, Judith; and nieces, nephews, aunt, uncle and cousins.

At his request, there will be no funeral service.

Arrangements were with Lewis and Glenn Funderal Home in Salida.

Online condolences may be offered at forevermissed.com/peter-joseph-dungan/.

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