Donald Buning is the older of two children. He was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1932 at Butterworth Hospital. He went to Diamond Elementary in Grand Rapids then to Ottawa Hills Junior and Senior High School. His best friend in Junior High was Homer Noordyk. He kind of got by in high school. He started out with easy classes and his senior year saw a counselor and switched to college rigor. To make this work, he had to go to two different high schools at the same time. He ended up hitchhiking from Ottawa Hills to South High school then had to walk home from South High School every day. He had to take summer classes his senior year before he could graduate. He graduated from high school in 1950. In the fall of 1950, he enrolled at Grand Rapids Junior College and completed the year. In the fall of 1951, he enrolled at Western Michigan University. He was not really focused on school so in 1952, joined the Navy. He spent two and a half years in the Navy (more on that later). In 1954, he re-enrolled at Western Michigan and earned his BS degree in 1956, later earning his Masters degree.
Eunice Mae Devries was the middle of three children, the oldest girl. She was born in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois. She actually had a sister that was born in 1932 who was also named Eunice Mae but she died a few days after she was born. Her parents never talked too much about the sister named after her. She started school in Chicago at Cicero Elementary Christian. In the seventh grade, they moved to Michigan. She went to Muskegon Christian through 8th grade and Kalamazoo Christian through high school. She graduated from Kalamazoo Christian High School. Her best friend in school was Mary Koning who later became Mary Bosker. After graduation, Eunice worked at Boom Insurance then for a dentist and lastly for the National Union of Christian Schools before getting married in 1955. After she got married she worked at Atlas Press at Kalamazoo Stamping and Die until 1956 when Dave was born. During Don’s career as an educator, Eunice worked various jobs including a library clerk, an Autistic job coach but mostly was a stay at home mom.
