Dr. Kenneth Wilson Dunkle Jr., 59, D.O., FACEP, of Grove City died Saturday at his home surrounded by family and loved ones.

Born May 25, 1946, in Philadelphia, he was the son of the late Kenneth W. Dunkle Sr. and the late Elizabeth H. Dunkle Evans.

He was a 1964 graduate of Lansdowne-Aldan High School in Delaware County, and received a bachelor's degree from Thiel College in 1968. In 1979, he completed his medical degree at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He then finished a rotating internship at Turnersville Memorial Hospital in New Jersey.

Dr. Dunkle was board certified by the American Osteopathic Association and was a fellow of the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He was a member of the American and Pennsylvania Osteopathic associations, the American College of Osteopathic Family Practitioners, the American College of Emergency Physicians and Phi Sigma Gamma medical fraternity.

Throughout his years as a physician, he held several specialized certifications including Advanced Trauma Life Support by the ACS Committee on Trauma, Neonatal Resuscitation Provider by the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support Instructor by the American Heart Association.

Dr. Dunkle was an emergency room physician at St. Francis Hospital, New Castle, from 1981 to 1986. While there, he also was director of the emergency room. He later became an active staff member at United Community Hospital, Grove City, where he was secretary-treasurer of the medical staff and headed numerous committees.

In 1995, he joined other physicians and founded Family Healthcare Partners, a multi-group practice designed to assist the medical needs of residents in Mercer and Butler counties.

For more than 15 years, he served the medical needs of his community as the physician for the Slippery Rock School District. He also aided the residents of Allegheny Valley Schools and was the medical consultant and provider for more than 1,000 federal employees at the Office of Personnel Management in Boyers. He was a past director of medicine at Autumn Grove in Harrisville.

Prior to entering the medical profession, he held positions at State Farm Insurance and Eaton Pharmaceuticals.

He served in the Army's lst Infantry Division, Co. A 1/28th from 1968 to 1970 and served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. He was a member of the American Legion.

He was dedicated to medicine, his family and the community. He devoted his time and resources toward establishing a soccer program in Grove City so his children and other youths in the community could participate in the sport. He also worked diligently to create a traveling youth soccer league as well as the Grove City High School boys junior varsity and varsity soccer and girls varsity soccer teams.

Dr. Dunkle was an active member of the Harrisville United Methodist Church, where he supported numerous church projects and activities.

He enjoyed reading, movies, jazz, birds and nature. He also loved vacations at the beach with family and friends.

Surviving are his wife, Andrea S. Dunkle; two children, Matthew A. Dunkle and his wife, Iris, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and Samantha E. Dunkle of Richmond, Va.; and two grandchildren, Jackson Kenneth and Maxwell Jonah Dunkle.

He also is survived by two sisters, Elizabeth J. Bingham and her husband, Robert, of Indianapolis, and Ruth E. Dunkle and her husband, Earl, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; a sister-in-law, Mary Ellen Chuk and her husband, J. Robert, of York; four nephews and a niece, Nathaniel, Benjamin and Emily Bingham, Karl Dunkle Werner and Jonathon Chuk.

DUNKLE - Friends of Dr. Kenneth Wilson Dunkle Jr., who died Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005, will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today and Wednesday at JAMISON FUNERAL HOME, 117 N. Main St., Harrisville. Visitation also will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday at Harrisville United Methodist Church, where the funeral service will follow at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Jeffrey St. Clair officiating. Burial will be at Harmony Cemetery, Harrisville.Memorial donations may be made to the Harrisville United Methodist Church Camp Fund, P.O. Box 424, Harrisville, PA 16038; or to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 211 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, E. Segundo, CA 90245. A fund also is being established for perpetual memorial and donations in his honor at United Community Hospital, Grove City, PA 16127, attention Rob Jackson.