HomeIn MemoriamRanch Manager Fogger Dunagan

Ranch Manager Fogger Dunagan

We learned recently of the death of Fogger Dunagan on April 15 at the ripe old age of 100. Fogger served as Deep Springs’ Ranch Manager in the late 1950s and early 1960s and was beloved by many a DS student. Vern Penner DS’57 shares this rememberance:

Fogger Dunagan was a giant of a man for me not in stature or weight but for those values which have served me well over the past half century. He epitomized hard work and thrift, treated everyone like family and equals, and personified a pioneer spirit which was truly ennobling. As ranch manager and cowboy, he never talked down to any newbie student on horseback nor was he critical of the dumb ass stunts all of us Deep Springers occasionally pulled. His cowboying skills were legendary.

His stories of life in Texas in the early 20th century were as good and authentic as any I’ve read by Cormac McCarthy. He was not a loud guy even though his nickname came from his early reputation for “foggin up dust.” His friendliness and kindness were so big they filled the corral and his modesty was a welcome trait in an increasingly immodest world. He inspired in me a self-reliance that’s kept me afloat during a dozen overseas tours. No crisis was too severe for Fogger that he couldn’t ease the pain or difficulty with a little infectious humor. I spent my final year and a half with Fogger and, by the time I left Deep Springs, I didn’t have many role models. Except for Fogger.

Fogger Dunagan lived 100 years, six months and 16 days and, as a fellow Deep Springer said, “after Fogger was born, they broke the mold.” That says it all.