Bunker, first U.S. Senator from Southern Nevada, dies at 92

Thursday was a day that Berkeley L. Bunker had long looked forward to seeing.

It was his wife Della's birthday. It was their 10th wedding anniversary. And it was the day the Clark County School District dedicated Berkeley Bunker Elementary School at 6350 Peak Drive.

Though ailing since he lost a leg to diabetes three years ago, Bunker, a native Nevadan and nonagenarian, was ever sharp of mind. He had memorized and rehearsed numerous times the speech he was to have given Thursday night.

But in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, Bunker, the first Las Vegan to serve as a U.S. senator from Nevada and a longtime local businessman who co-founded Bunker Mortuary, died of complications from pneumonia at Sunrise Hospital. He was 92.

His widow delivered his speech at the school's dedication ceremony Thursday night.

"Berkeley had rehearsed the words over and over to get them just right," she said a few hours before the ceremony.

"Now I'll have to stumble through it. But my mother, who was widowed three times, always told me marriage is a commitment you make for the long haul -- you take the good and the bad."

In the brief speech Bunker wrote, he called the honor of having a school named for him a "most overwhelming" experience.

"This far exceeds my fondest expectations," Bunker wrote. "I'm proud to make some dent in the epilogue of time."

Services will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Paradise Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1725 Palora Ave. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. today at Bunker Chapel and one hour prior to Saturday's service at the church. Interment will be at Bunkers Eden Vale Cemetery.

"He was an outstanding legislator who well represented the state of Nevada in Washington, D.C., and he was a stalwart member of the church," said retired longtime Las Vegas attorney Rulon Earl, a friend.

"Berkeley had the best sense of humor and always had a positive outlook, even after he lost a leg. He had a way of making people around him feel good."

Former two-term Nevada Gov. Mike O'Callaghan remembered his longtime friend by saying: "Berkeley, along with Gov. Charlie Russell, was a most valuable resource during my years in public service.

"He represented the human treasure that has made Nevada a good place to live and raise families. Berkeley loved his friends and family and in public life treated his few opponents with understanding and kindness."

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a close friend and longtime admirer of Bunker, called him "an inspiration" to Nevada.

"In a time when Americans want strong moral leadership, Berkeley was the epitome of morality," Reid said. "Anyone who knew Berkeley Bunker knew he stood for great integrity.

"And he was an excellent speaker -- a real stem-winder from the old school."

Clark County Public Defender Morgan Harris, Bunker's son-in-law, called Bunker "a true Nevadan" who got everything he earned through hard work.

"His motto was, 'There are no office hours for leaders and there is always room at the top,' " Harris said. "He was a self-taught, self-made man who was well-learned despite not having a college education."

Della, who is several years younger than her late husband, fondly called him "a young old man."

"Berkeley had countless interests and a boundless energy," said the former Della Lee Richards, a retired teacher in the Clark County School District. "He also had great charisma and was a leader."

Born Aug. 12, 1906, in the old Southern Nevada Mormon settlement of St. Thomas, Bunker was one of 10 children of Martin and Helen Bunker. His grandfather traveled west with Mormon leader Brigham Young to what is now Salt Lake City.

In 1877, Berkeley's father settled in St. Thomas, which in the 1930s was purposely flooded to create Lake Mead after Hoover Dam was built. Bunker, with his keen sense of humor, often referred to that incident as the time that St. Thomas was "adequately baptized."

Bunker was raised on a farm in Moapa Valley. He drove an eight-horse freight team that hauled copper from the surrounding mountains and helped tend to 500 head of cattle.

At age 6, he clung to his mother's apron as the family watched a bucket brigade of neighbors try to save their home as it became engulfed by flames. The family managed to save only a piano, the clothes on their backs and a $5 bill that Berkeley's mother had tucked into her pocket.

Bunker's family moved to Las Vegas when he was a teenager. It was the first time he was able to enjoy indoor plumbing and electricity.

Bunker attended Overton High School for three years and graduated from Las Vegas High in 1926, one of 26 students in that senior class.

In 1933, he married his high school sweetheart, Lucile, whom he called Angel. She died in 1988. He married Della, a longtime friend, a year later.

As a young man, Bunker put in 12-hour days driving laundry and dairy trucks locally for $75 a month.

After serving a two-year Mormon mission to Florida and Georgia, Bunker returned home and took a job at the Texaco service station on Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard, which then was called 5th Street. He later opened his own tire and auto business.

About that time, Bunker, a Democrat, became interested in politics and was elected to three consecutive terms in the Nevada Assembly -- in 1936, '38 and '40. During his second term, Bunker was speaker of the Assembly. He also was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Bunker was replaced by John Kelly for the 1941 session after he was appointed to serve in the U.S. Senate on Nov. 27, 1940. Bunker replaced Key Pittman, who had been re-elected Nov. 5, 1940, but who died before his term began.

As a senator, Bunker voted on the declaration of the state of emergency that put America into World War II after President Franklin Roosevelt delivered his famous "day of infamy" speech following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

After losing a Senate retainment bid in 1942, Bunker won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1944. In 1946, he lost in another bid for the Senate.

It was his last shot at federal office, but Bunker later ran for lieutenant governor of Nevada, losing to Republican Paul Laxalt, who would go on to become the state's governor and a U.S. senator.

In the 1940s, Berkeley and his brother Bryan each put up $750 to buy Garrison Mortuary, then located on Fremont between 5th and 6th streets, from Al Garrison.

The business later moved to 5th Street and Stewart Avenue and was renamed Bunker Burt Mortuary. After Lester Burt was bought out, it was renamed Bunker Bros. Mortuary. Today it is known as Bunkers Mortuary and is located on Las Vegas Boulevard North.

Bunker served as national president of the Order of the Golden Rule, a funeral director's organization.

In the 1980s and '90s, Bunker, who long shunned the idea of retirement, served as a United States bankruptcy trustee.

A devout member of the Mormon church, Bunker led the fund-raising drive that financed the construction of the temple on Frenchman's Mountain on the east end of the Las Vegas Valley. He was said to have been the oldest living Las Vegas First Ward bishop.

Bunker retired in August 1995 and a month later was diagnosed with adult onset diabetes, which cost him a leg to infection.

Bunker was a member of the Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Southern Nevada Historical Museum Association, Boy Scouts of America, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society and other civic groups. He was past president of the Las Vegas YMCA and Better Business Bureau.

In addition to his wife and son-in-law, Bunker is survived by two daughters, Ann Harris of Las Vegas and Loretta Derrick and her husband, Paul, of Sandy, Utah; a stepdaughter, Sharla Humphrey of Las Vegas; a stepson, Dr. James Lee Richards, of Idaho Falls, Idaho; a sister, Ann Shipley of Salt Lake City; 22 grandchildren; and 24 great-grandchildren.

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