Anna's Chapel features 105 pages of scripture messages, poems penned by Anna Miriam Dunn Knutson, and breathtaking images of Anna's Chapel and the grounds at P. Graham Dunn taken by local photographer Randy Fath.
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Anna Miriam Dunn Knutson was born on December 23, 1975 and died on November 17, 2013. She was the first child of Peter and LeAnna Dunn. Most of her childhood years were spent on the family farm in the Sonnenberg Valley between Kidron and Dalton, Ohio. She attended Kidron Elementary, Dalton Middle School, Central Christian High School, Rosedale Bible College, Goshen College, and Kent State University.
In 2002 Anna moved to Portland, Oregon, where she met another Portland transplant, Joe Knutson, from East Grand Forks, Minnesota. They were married on July 24, 2004, and relocated to Ohio the following year where Joe began employment at P. Graham Dunn and Anna pursued her education.
Anna lived a full life, before and after her cancer diagnosis in December of 2008. She did not let cancer prevent her from the loves of her life: playing and teaching violin (especially to her niece and nephew); teaching (Central Christian, Kent State, Ashland University); her church family (Sonnenberg Mennonite), friends, travel, reading and writing.
Anna's Chapel, on the P. Graham Dunn campus, is similar to the "Chapel of the Holy Dove" near Flagstaff, Arizona, where Anna and Joe visited when Anna was well enough to travel. Both of these rustic chapels were built as a place of peace and comfort, pointing to the "God of all comfort." Both chapels encourage visitors to express their thoughts and prayers on the wood surfaces. Our chapel was built to honor Anna, but it is really for everyone, for we have all lost loved ones.
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Randy Fath grew up in the same community as the Dunn family, near Dalton, Ohio. For three years after college he lived in solitude in an 18-foot Sioux tipi, studying and experiencing nature. He has written about this experience in his book One Solitary Tipi. After his time in solitude, he worked in 40 countries over 12 years doing relief/construction work, starting schools, teaching English, building churches, and producing films and videos. While working in Japan he met Junko, whom he married in 2000. After becoming a father (Miki is now in university), Randy started a commercial photography company to "keep my young family alive." He specializes in advertising and magazine photography, where his work regularly appears in the top furniture and home magazines, calendars, and corporate websites.
Randy lives just a stone's throw from P. Graham Dunn and Anna's Chapel, and produces beautiful and creative shots of them almost daily. We are privileged to call Randy our friend, neighbor, and photographer par excellence.
