Prisoner of War Advocate Dunn Dies at 72

A Jamaica Plain native, noted for her advocacy on behalf of American military prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action, died Friday.

Maureen A. (Hoey) Dunn, of Randolph, died Friday May 10 at age 72, according to her obituary on the Cartwright Funeral Home website.

Dunn’s long history of advocacy began during the Vietnam War, when her husband US Navy Lt. Joseph P. Dunn plane was shot down over the South China Sea near Hainan Island on Feb. 14, 1968. His body was never found, and he was officially decalred dead in 1982. Maureen Dunn became a widow with a young son. The couple were married at St. Thomas Aquinas church in Jamaica Plain four years earlier in September 1965.

She co-founded the National League of Families of POWs/MIAs, and was a presence at the Paris Peace Talks through the 1970s, according to her obituary.

She co-authored “The Search for Canasta 404 Love, Loss, and the POW MIA Movement,” her life story, along with Melissa B. Robinson in 2006.

In recent years, she continued her advocacy through the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, an organization that helps train amputees to run long distance races. She brought amputee veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to Boston each year to run the Boston Marathon. Dunn was the guest speaker at the 44th annual Memorial Day Services in 2012 at the Gardens at Gethsemane in West Roxbury.

She had strong ties to the Boston Red Sox by way of her relationship with former manager Lou Gorman, a Navy veteran.

Maureen is survived by her son, Joe, her daughter-in-law, Beverly, her beloved grandson Joseph Patrick Dunn, III, her sister, Eleanor Sheldon of Norwood and her brothers John Hoey of Randolph and Frederick Hoey of Canton.

Funeral information from Dunn’s obituary at Cartwright Funeral Home’s website:

Reposing at the Cartwright Funeral Home, 419 No. Main Street (Rt. 28), RANDOLPH. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend Visiting Hours on Tuesday from 3:00 P.M. 8:00 P.M. in Stetson Hall, 6 South Main Street, Randolph. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday at 12:10 P.M. in St. Mary Church, 211 No. Main Street, Randolph. Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery, Randolph. Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be made to the Achilles Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans, 42 West 38th Street, Suite 400, New York, NY 10018. For directions or to leave a sympathy message for the family, visit www.cartwrightfuneral.com.