Dolorez Hunter

Dolorez Allen Hunter was born in Buffalo, NY to Dr. Marion Austin Allen (a 1919 graduate of the Harvard University School of Dentistry and the first African American dentist in Buffalo) and Calpurnia Rogers Allen. She was raised as a member of Bethel AME Church, where her father served as a steward. She was also the granddaughter of the late Rev. George Wesley Allen, who was the editor of the AME Church Southern Christian Recorder for 28 years. Following her father’s death in 1938, her family moved to Columbus, Ohio to be nearer to extended family members including her uncles Alexander Joseph Allen, the 62nd Bishop of the AME Church, and Nimrod Booker Allen, former member of the AME Church Episcopal Committee and founder of the Frontiers Club, International. Mrs. Hunter was married to Bishop John Ellsworth Hunter, the 101st Bishop of the AME Church, for 34 years prior to his death in 1985.

Mrs. Hunter was educated at Fisk University, Ohio State University (Bachelor of Arts in Sociology), Atlanta University (Master of Library Science), and did further study at Indiana University. She has consistently used her talents and professional training to contribute to her church and community. She worked in public and school libraries in Des Moines, Iowa; Gary, Indiana; and Detroit, Michigan, where she retired in November of 1997. She contributed devotional literature to the publication, “Missionaries on the Move,” compiled by Dorothy Young and was a contributor to History of the A.M.E. Women’s Missionary Society.

Dolorez Allen Hunter joined St. Stephen AME Church in Detroit, MI in 1972 as “First Lady” with the late Reverend John Ellsworth Hunter who was the first and only pastor elected from St. Stephen to the Bishopric. As an Episcopal Supervisor, she joined her husband, Bishop Hunter, in ministry to the 15th and 19th Episcopal Districts in South Africa, where a church is named in her honor. The cornerstone for the Dolorez A. Hunter Temple A.M.E. Church in Sebokeng, Vereeniging (suburban Johannesburg) was laid on May 27, 1984; and the completed church was dedicated on January 13, 1990. While living in South Africa, she labored to improve the lives of women and children, in particular.

Returning to Detroit upon Bishop Hunter’s call from labor to reward, she faithfully served at St. Stephen AME Church. She was appointed to the Steward Board by the Rev. Dr. Harold C. Huggins (presently, retired Presiding Elder Emeritus). She was also an active member of the Cultural Society, the Emily E. Vernon Missionary Society, and the St. Stephen Library Ministry. She wrote a Bereavement Manual for the benefit of the congregation, and was named a “St. Stephen Bridge Builder” in the year 2000 by the Historical Remembrance Ministry. Following her move to Dallas in 2007, she was affiliated with St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church.

She was a Life Member of the Women’s Missionary Society of the AME Church; a Life Member of the NAACP; and, former officer of Church Women United. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and served as Basileus of the Ohio State University Chapter in 1947.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her only sibling, Marion Austin Allen, Jr., and her husband, Bishop John Ellsworth Hunter. She leaves to mourn: her children - Marion Lynn Boynes (Odell) of Merrillville, IN; Cynthia Ethel Spann (Thomas) of Dallas, TX; John Joseph Hunter of Los Angeles, CA; a nephew that she helped parent - William Lionel Austin, Jr. (Paulette) of St. Simons Island, GA; five grandchildren - Monique Dolorez Spann Redmon (Clayton), Thomas William Spann, Jr. (Morgan), Jaden Christiana Hunter, Danielle Spragan (Donnie), and Dana Brown; three great grandchildren - Clayton Keith Redmon, Carlwell Kenneth Redmon, and Clair Kennedy Redmon; two great-nephews - William Lionel Austin, III and Paul Alexander Austin; her sister in-law – Elsa Allen; niece -Phoebe Ethel Allen; nephews – Marion Austin Allen III, Anthony Nimrod Allen, David Warren Allen, and William James Allen; and a host of other relatives and friends.

“Who can find a virtuous woman? For, her price is far above rubies. … Her children rise up and call her blessed; …” Proverbs 31:10 and 28