Jennifer Dunn and Gage
Jennifer Dunn, Woody, and Gage
Remembering an Angel:
Jennifer Dunn
by Kevin Caruso
Jennifer Dunn was a beautiful, intelligent, outgoing, friendly, and caring young woman.
Jennifer loved to read and had a rather large library; her favorite literary genre was crime novels, and she voraciously read one crime novel after the other.
But the most important thing in Jennifer's life was her family. She married Lance "Woody" Dunn, the man of her dreams, on October 18, 1998. She was deeply in love with Woody.
"I have never seen someone love another person as much as she loved Woody," said Jennifer's step-sister, Sunday Leyk.
Jennifer wanted to have a child very badly, and thus was overjoyed when she became pregnant. But there were complications and her precious son, Gage, was born premature
on December, 10, 2002.
Jennifer virtually lived at the hospital while Gage was there. She spent every second that she could with him and cared for him in every way possible.
When the doctors finally allowed Jennifer to take Gage home, Jennifer was thrilled and she gave Gage the love, care, and attention that he needed. Jennifer loved being a mom, and she was a great mother to Gage.
But Jennifer did have some problems. She had bipolar disorder and needed to take medication regularly to stabilize her moods.
And in December of 2003, she began taking cocaine.
Woody found out about her drug use in February of 2004 and persuaded her to enter a rehab program. Jennifer did go to rehab
but found it very difficult to break her addiction.
Woody told her that if she continued to use the drug that she would have to leave.
On June 15, 2004, Woody found out that Jennifer was taking cocaine again, and he told her that she had to leave for the sake of the baby. Jennifer said that she needed a few hours to pack her items, so Woody took Gage, drove to town, and waited for Jennifer to depart.
Shortly after Woody left, Jennifer called her mom, told her that Woody kicked her out, and said that she was going to kill herself by taking an overdose of drugs. Jennifer then hung up, called Woody, and told him that she was going to kill herself.
Jennifer's mom and Woody both called 911, and Woody rushed home to try to stop her.
But when Woody arrived, he saw police cars and a helicopter.
A police officer ran up to Woody and said, "I thought you said this was an overdose; this is a gunshot wound to the head."
Sadly, Jennifer did shoot herself in the head. She was medevacked and survived on life support for six days.
She passed away on June 21, 2004.
She was 30.
Jennifer was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, and was living in Babson Park, Florida when she passed away.
Jennifer is survived by Gage William Dunn, son; Lance "Woody" Dunn, husband; Vicki Dugger, mother; James Dugger, step-father; Scottie Harper, brother; and Sunday Leyk, step-sister.
We miss you Jennifer.
You are an angel now.
