Dr. Tessie Frances Yeager Dunham, 89, died December 25, 2019, at her home on Escambia Bay in Pensacola, FL. Born August 26, 1930, in Elizabethton, TN, "Fran," as she was known to friends and colleagues, was the eldest child of the late Katie Howard Yeager Magee and Richard C. Yeager.

The first in her family to earn a college degree, Dr. Dunham studied nursing at Duke University before switching to developmental psychology and earning her doctorate at Duke in 1963. She served on the faculties of the Duke School of Nursing and the University of North Carolina – Greensboro in the 1960s. In 1969, she moved to the new University of West Florida as an associate professor, where she stayed until her retirement in 1997 as a full professor.

As an eldest daughter, Fran always felt responsible for taking care of people, from her younger siblings and their children; to her children, whom she raised almost single-handedly; to her departmental colleagues, whom she resolved in her first week as chairman to protect from excessive service and administrative demands; to her students, especially the graduate students, whose careers she followed with great interest; to her young clients at the Lakeview Center, where she did clinical work for years and served as an officer; to her professional organization, the Southeastern Psychological Association, whose conferences she organized for years after retirement. She also helped guide the design and construction of the new psychology building after retiring, where a conference room was named after her in 1999.

Dr. Dunham published in both nursing and psychology journals and served as departmental chairman and assistant and associate dean. Her colleagues saw her as "dedicated, effective, and fair," and as "quiet but strong." A subsequent chairman credited her with helping to hire highly productive and nationally recognized faculty, leading to national prominence for UWF's psychology department.                                      .

During her later career and in retirement, Fran became a talented genealogist. She published Howards in Southeastern Kentucky , a genealogy of her mother's family, in 1979. She continued this work almost until her death, amassing enormous information on the Howards and also on the Dunhams, her children's paternal relations.

Her brothers Mackie Yeager and Howard Magee preceded her in death. She is survived by her sister Mrs. Daniel (Katherine Yeager) LeSage of Denham Springs, LA; her children Dr. Stephanie D. Moussalli Kurtz of Oxford, MS, and Richard A. Dunham of Pensacola; and her grandson Ali J. Moussalli and great-grandchildren Arlo S. Moussalli and Clara F. Moussalli, all of Brevard, NC.

Dr. Dunham was cremated at the Harper Morris Memorial Chapel on December 30. A memorial service will be held at Harper Morris on March 8, 2020, with friends received at 1:30 P.M. and a formal service to begin at 2:30.

Dr. Dunham requested that, in lieu of flowers, any donations be directed to the University of West Florida Psychology Department Foundation Account or to Lakeview Center, Inc., in Pensacola, FL.