Gail Weaver Bunn, an alumna of the School of Education and donor to the School, has died after fighting multiple myeloma. She was 65.
Tom and Gail Bunn pose at the Old Well in December 2010.
Bunn (A.B.Ed. ’72) grew up in Salisbury, N.C., attended Carolina, then taught for several years in Yadkin County. After obtaining a business degree, she went to work in banking in Charlotte, spending 19 years rising through the management ranks with NCNB and Nationsbank.
During her banking career, Bunn continued her involvement with schools. She helped develop two preschools serving inner-city neighborhoods in Charlotte. She also tutored in public schools in Charlotte and at Johns Island, S.C. She also managed a tutoring program at Citizens Academy, a charter school in Cleveland. She has also served as a trustee of the Crossnore School in Avery County in the North Carolina mountains.
She was also a member of the board of the School of Education Foundation.
“Gail Bunn was devoted to her alma mater, the School of Education and to the education of children,” said Interim Dean Deborah Eaker-Rich. “Using her own experience working in a classroom, she provided valuable and substantive guidance as a member of the School of Education’s Foundation Board. One of her legacies is embodied in the Gail W. Bunn Fellows program, which supports pre-service teachers who have an interest in working in rural areas. Our hearts go out to her husband, Tom, and to Gail’s family and friends.”
Bunn, with her husband, established the Gail W. Bunn Fellows program, which supports School of Education students who work and live in rural communities during their internship experiences.
Bunn, in a profile published in 2011, said she was moved to create the program after learning more about the School’s work to improve schools in rural North Carolina, and specifically its initiative in the northeastern part of the state with the Roanoke River Valley Consortium. The fellowship program is designed to support two students each year, covering living expenses during Fellows’ work away from campus.
“I saw an opportunity to combine my personal interest in helping educate children in rural communities while supporting an existing School of Education initiative,” Bunn said.
“We have great students in the School of Education who know so much about working with children,” Bunn said in the 2011 profile. “They are a great resource for schools, but also for back here at Carolina when they return with an enthusiasm for community service.”
Bunn’s funeral service will be held Friday, June 10, at First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte at 2 p.m. The family will receive friends following the service in the Wood Fellowship Hall. Inurnment will be private.
Memorials may be made to the MUSC Foundation, Multiple Myeloma Research, 18 Bee Street, Charleston, SC 29425.