Les Dunner, long-timeLangley, Wash., resident and beloved friend, left this earthly plane on Oct. 12, 2020, at his home in Langley, having succumbed to his long fight against cancer.
Born Leslie A. Dunner on March 24, 1944, in Detroit, Mich., to Arthur and Sonya Markovsky Dunner, he is survived by his sister, Roberta Dunner; former wife Georgiana Reifman; and their children, Cari Dunner and Darren Dunner.
Darren owns and operates a digital marketing business in Orange County, Calif., while his wife Adriana is a talented chef.
Les was also the proud grandfather of Nicholas, Samuel and Jaden Dunner and Austin Kiloh.
Les served six years in the U.S. Army, obtaining the rank of staff sergeant, honorably discharged.
Remarrying in 1973, Les and his now-former wife and lifelong friend Michele LaRue came to Langley in 1973 from Los Angeles. The Dunners opened the eclectic shop “The Crow’s Nest” at a time when the counter-culture movement was beginning to take hold, and they played an active role in how Langley changed and expanded over subsequent years.
Les was a founding member of the popular theater troupe FOOLS, which, over 10 years, produced a series of original musical extravagances.Directed by Bob Sabatini during the 1970s, devotees from all over Puget Sound scrambled for opening night tickets before April Fool’s Day at Langley’s Clyde Theater.
Later in life, Les developed his talent for photography, inspired by Bonnie Bryner, his partner in life for 15 years. He showed his very creative work in local galleries and art fairs as well as his own gallery “The Eye and I” in Freeland, Wash.
As a talented actor, Les was sought after and performed in many plays, including, “Wings of the Termite,” “A Mother’s Recipe,” and Sam Shepard’s “True West,” all directed by Ricard Evans.
Les’s friends would say he was a decent golfer, a smooth-voiced charmer with twinkly eyes, a magician and juggler, an old school waiter with a wicked sense of humor and a traveler whose appetite for Mediterranean food and wine was satiated during a month-long trip to Spain.
Les was an Entrepreneur of Life, with a continual curiosity as to how he fit in. He’s left family and friends and a helluva lot of good stories for us to tell.
Cheers to you, Les!
A celebration of Les’s life will be held in spring of 2021, when we can all safely gather. Donations can be made to his favorite charity: WAIF Animal Shelter, 60 Rhododendron Park Road, Coupeville, WA 98239
