Our beloved Friend, Dorelen (Dorie) Feise Bunting, was born June 23, 1922, in Mexico City to parents Ernst Feise and Dorothy Flint Findlay. Dorie died at age 101 on August 24, 2023 in New Mexico.
Dorie’s parents were humanists with little interest in formal religion. When Dorie was14, her friend Margaret Wagner invited her to attend a Quaker Meeting. The simplicity, openness and emphasis on individual conscience appealed to her, and she became a lifelong Friend for over 80 years.
On their return from Mexico the family lived in Ohio and then Baltimore, Maryland. Dorie received a classical high school education at Bryn Mawr Girls School. At age 15 in 1938, Dorie stayed with a family in Berlin to improve her German. The family would shop in forbidden Jewish stores and sit on yellow benches designated for the Jews and these small acts of resistance influenced Dorie’s future. She witnessed Hitler speaking in a mass rally. There she learned to “stand up early on.”
At Oberlin College she majored in Art History and languages. She sang classical pieces in choruses. In New Mexico she enjoyed regularly attending concerts by “Musica Antigua.” In later life she sang with the Highland Harmonizers and the Highland High Toners at the Highland Senior Center and with the Raging Grannies at many protests.
After graduating from college in 1944, Dorie volunteered for post war relief and reconstruction work with the American Friends Service Committee, (AFSC) in Italy and Germany for nearly three years. There she met Bainbridge Bunting, a conscientious objector and also a volunteer. They were married in August, 1948 at her parents’ summer home. The Buntings moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Bain became a well-known Professor of Architecture History at the University of New Mexico. They purchased a one-room adobe on Guadalupe Trail, which grew to be a large home and meeting place, built by Bain, neighbors and friends who made many of their own adobes. They raised three children Emily, Meredith, and Findlay. The Sala Grande of the house became a frequent site for parties, concerts and local peace-organizing activities.
Dorie and Bain were among the founding members of the Albuquerque Friends Meeting in 1949, bringing an awareness of injustice and pacifism in all they did. The couple joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation. With her strong social conscience Dorie encouraged her children to watch the televised speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She worked with the United Nations Association and encouraged their children to trick-or-treat for UNICEF.
Dorie’s activism deepened with “Ban the Bomb” campaigns, the anti-Vietnam War movement in the 1960’s, and she continued in the anti-nuclear movement into her late 80’s. One of her earliest protest actions that brought her to public attention was standing with anti-war signs outside the entrance gates to Sandia National laboratories which develops weapons of war. Dorie protested in direct actions against atomic bomb testing in Nevada and against storage of nuclear waste in New Mexico. In 1983 Dorie co-founded the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice. She helped found a local chapter of Amnesty International. Dorie was a founding member of CANT, “Citizens Against Nuclear Threat” in 1975 and also worked with Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping CARD, founded by Janet Greenwald.
As a quiet, committed activist, Dorie became a community legend. Her Quaker ways informed her social justice actions. Often decisions were made through a general consensus process, with respect for all views. In local social activist meetings, sometimes she would look like she was asleep with eyes closed, but she was listening deeply to all that was being said. This is a posture familiar to Friends. Then she would make a comment that honored everyone, and they could see a path forward.
In a statement in the 1991 WRL (War Resisters League) calendar she said, “My experiences since being in Germany as an often-reluctant activist have taught me that in taking action, however small, one acquires strength and grows toward the life of peace and love.” A major motivational factor in Dorie’s life was her inspiration from the White Rose resistance in Germany in which young university students distributed leaflets as part of the anti-fascist movement protesting Nazism—ending in their execution or imprisonment.
In the Albuquerque Monthly Meeting (Quakers) Dorie fulfilled many joyful duties over the decades. Among her many services she was Presiding Clerk 1965; Peace and Social Concerns Clerk 1978, 1991; Ministry & Oversight 1980-1981; Assisted Quarterly Meeting 1980; Children’s Education Committee 1993; Naming Committee 1993; Nominating Committee 1993-1999; Albuquerque Ecumenical Conference 1995-1996; Intermountain Yearly Meeting Sufferings 1996; National War Tax Resistance 1996; Hospitality 1999-2007; Building & Grounds 2007.
One act of dramatic civil disobedience was when she joined a group of protesters to stop the first truck carrying radioactive nuclear waste to WIPP (the Waste Isolation Pilot Project.) In the deep dark along a remote highway they managed to stall the truck for about a half hour with a broken-down car in the middle of the road.
Another memorable time was when she was sitting with other protesters in Senator Bingaman’s office waiting to have a word with him when police began carrying out the activists. One policeman hesitated in front of Dorie’s dignity. She rose to her full very tall height, and they looked at each other. He held out his hand and she took it. They walked out of the office arm in arm for her to be arrested. At her 80th birthday party Dorie was handed the gift of a “get out of jail” pre-paid bail bond because she was likely to be arrested repeatedly for good causes.
Dorie was overheard saying, “Imagine what our world would be like if we did not educate our fine young men for war.” With the Friends’ model she worked for peace and justice in many arenas. She was a good leader and showed true personal care for whoever she was working with. Her style was joyful and fun amidst their serious projects. Fundraisers, dances, and meetings always included good food. Dorie was well known for her appreciation for potlucks, especially the sweet desserts.
Dorie’s daughter Meredith returned from her missionary work in Africa in 2007 to care for Dorie in her last years. In one of many acts of caring, Meredith helped Dorie retain her memory by reviewing and memorizing the Beatitudes.
Faithful to her Quaker ways of simplicity Dorie was buried one day after her death in a simple, unvarnished pine casket with rope handles at San Jose de Armijo Cemetery, 2957 Arenal Rd. SW in Albuquerque. One attender spoke loudly, “Here lies the most important person in New Mexico!” As old friends carried the casket at the grave site many sang “We Shall Overcome,” “Tis a Gift to Be Simple,” and the chorus “Ain’t Gonna’ Study War No More.”
Dorie is survived by two children Meredith Bunting and Findlay Bunting along with three grandchildren, Ximena and Feliciana Puig, Walker Bunting, and four great grandchildren. Her daughter Emily and her husband Bainbridge predeceased her. Her family is grateful for the loving care she received at Casa de Paz. Meredith and Findlay slept on the floor by their mother’s bed for two nights at the end. A Memorial Service was planned at the Hispanic Cultural Center, September 27, 2023.
Dorie’s family encouraged contributions to the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, 202 Harvard SE, Albuquerque 87106; (505) 268-9557.
Friend Dorie Bunting is a role model without equal and an essential inspiration for thousands of New Mexicans during the 20th and 21st centuries. Her influence continues in the brick and mortar of the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice and in the hearts and minds of those blessed by her memory, her life, her gentle and strong Quaker ways.