KI to honor Vikki Dunn for 11 years of service

Congregation Keneseth

Israel honor Vikki Dunn for her years of service to the congregation and the Jewish community on Saturday, June 17, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Everyone is invited to join in the evening of dining and entertainment.

KI hired Dunn as its new temple administrator in 2012, and over the past 11 years she has put her own mark on the position to the extent that it was changed to executive director. She is extremely well organized and can juggle many tasks at the same time. She is a good listener and can see the potential in new ideas. She is very flexible and does not get upset when changes are needed. She always finds a way to resolve problems to get things done.

Dunn was born and raised along with her brother and sister in the very Jewish community of West Hartford, Connecticut. She attended religious school and became extremely active in the National Federation of Temple Youth. One summer, she attended NFTY Kutz Camp for a month and was so active and enthusiastic that the camp leader petitioned her temple to help pay for her to stay for the second month.

After high school, she attended the University of Connecticut, where she got a degree in marketing, but developed a love of writing. She wrote a column for the campus newspaper. Postgraduation, she got a job with RR Donnelly and was soon transferred to New York City to work in the magazine prepress division.

On her third day there, while waiting for the subway, she met a nice man named David. It turned out they worked only a few blocks from each other on Wall Street. They talked the whole way to their stop and when they got off the train, he gave her a business card. She never called.

David, however, was not so easily put off. She had told him that she worked for Donnelly, and he managed to track her down there. He called and invited her to lunch.

Lunch went well, and after several more, they knew they had feelings for each other. A year later they were married. Vikki Susman became Vikki Dunn, and they lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Two years later, David got a new job, in Weston, Connecticut, and they decided it was a good time and place to start a family. Henry and Sarah came along in short order, and Vikki stayed at home to raise the children while David worked. She came to realize that she wanted more children, but David was happy with just the two.

Then David was offered a wonderful job opportunity, but it involved moving to Toronto. He really wanted to take the job, but Vikki was happy where they were. She told David that she was willing to uproot, but only if he agreed to have another child. He took the position, they moved and they had another child, named Matthew (a Canadian citizen).

They joined a small congregation just outside Toronto where the two older children began religious school. Vikki was very active there, on the board and in the queue to become president, but it was not to be. David’s company was bought out and he was let go, though with a great severance package.

David and Vikki decided to buy a small business in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they stayed for 18 years. Vikki accepted a position as director of operations at the Mary Meyer Stuffed Toys company, where she stayed until they moved to Allentown. She told me the job was very similar in nature to the position of administrator at KI and that the skill sets she developed there helped her prepare for her current position. One thing she learned quickly at KI was that interacting with congregants is a bit different than dealing with stuffed toys.

While in Brattleboro, she became a soccer mom, complete with a minivan, and she volunteered at the kids’ schools, in the town and at the synagogue. She was on the board of Shir He Harim (Song of the Mountains) for many years, including a two-year stint as president. All three children had their b’nai mitzvot there and Vikki became an adult bat mitzvah there. She maintains close ties, and her daughter Sarah was married there last October.

Their children are now spread out, with Henry and his wife Sara in Connecticut; Sarah and her husband, Boykin, in Juneau, Alaska; and Matthew and his wife, Gina, in Brooklyn. Vikki and David have seven grandchildren: Nora, Mabel, Ellerby, Mobi, Cora, Beatrice Pawder and Otto von Bisbark (Nora and Mabel are of the twolegged variety; the rest are four-legged).

The Dunns moved to the Lehigh Valley because David got a job at Lehigh University. He saw a classified ad in the Morning Call for an institution looking for an administrator. It stated that any applicant “must be comfortable dealing with Jewish people.” They still laugh today because if that phrase had not been in the ad, Vikki would have paid it no attention. Once she called and found out more, she saw it as a way to bring her family life, her Jewish life and her work life together for the first time.

One of Vikki’s favorite parts of the KI position is that she gets to make a real difference in the lives of many congregants, interacting with them as they plan for life cycle events. She loves that there are so many facets of the work that she’s never bored. Her comfort level with change has served her well in her interaction with two rabbis and six presidents, all of whom had different leadership styles.

Vikki feels proud of many things that occurred during her tenure, but a few really resonate with her. The COVID-19 pandemic was especially disruptive to everyone and everything involved with KI, and it was very challenging to maintain a sense of order and continuity. She teamed with the rabbi and the lay leadership to put Shabbat services online. She helped organize new programs such as virtual wine tasting and Chairs on the Stairs, where congregants would meet on KI’s front steps to watch the fireworks on July 4.

She also wrote a grant request for federal funds to improve the security of the building. That request was approved, and KI is now a safer place because of her actions.

She brought more volunteers into the office to ensure that congregants and anyone else who contacted KI had a personal and pleasant experience. She played a role in reformatting the KI Bulletin and the email blast and rebuilding the KI website. She also worked to open the building so other Jewish organizations could hold events at KI. As Vikki retires as executive director, she has some suggestions for her successor, John Perry: always remember that KI is not just a business, but also a Jewish home and community. And lead with your heart as well as your head, be optimistic and maintain a sense of humor.

What’s next for Vikki? Her plans include more babysitting and visiting the grandchildren (of both varieties), a lot of cooking, continuing with her book club and gourmet group, walking and exercising, traveling with David and staying open to new volunteer possibilities. However, she is most excited about taking over as president of the Women of KI, and invites women of all ages to join.

If you are a KI member, you should already have received an invitation to the event. If you would like to join in honoring Vikki, call KI at 610-435-9074.