Yes, there is another Suzanne Bunker!  More than one, in fact....

Suzanne Bunker is a professor of Speech at Lane Community College, and here is her home page:  http://sliunix.lanecc.edu/~breadenb/dept.bunker.html  [Accessed on 8 June 2002].   When I sent her an e-mail message earlier this year, she kindly replied:

8 March 2002

Dear Suzanne Bunkers,

What a pleasant surprise to open my email and find a message from you.  When I first read it, I did not notice the 's' at the end of your surname, so I thought we had identical names. The two names are remarkably similar although I am doubtful that we are directly related.  Although my father learned by doing some genealogical research that supposedly all 'Bunker' names that can be traced back four generations in this country come from original Bunker families that came from England with the early settlers. However, I have never verified that information and I'm not sure where the four generations would have to start in terms of dates.  The other part of this connection that I find gently remarkable is the similarity in our chosen careers. I see you are on the faculty at Mankato State and in the English program while I am part of the English, Foreign Language, and Speech Division at Lane Community College. I teach in the Speech Department. 

Now in terms of being distant cousins, my father was born to a Bunker family in Racine, Wisconsin. His full name is Howard Ray Bunker and he believes that he did have cousins in Mankato, MN. However, he has no memory of their names---although he thought they may be on his father's
side of the family. The unfortunate part of this story is that my dad was orphaned when he was about 11 or 12 years old and he lost touch with any of his father's (or mother's) family. His own father whose name was Charles Bunker (his middle name might have been Ray or Raymond) died
right after WWI when my dad was about 2 years old. My dad was born in 1921, and had both an older brother named Charles and an older sister named Charlotte. The three of them eventually relocated on the west coast--- first California, then my dad moved his family up to Oregon which is where I grew up. So, it would be quite amazing to discover relatives back in the midwest. Well, this is probably more information than you bargained for when you wrote your note but I am curious too
about whether there is a connection between us.

Another brief comment about 'Suzanne Bunker'---- somewhere around 1977 or 1978, there was another Suzanne Bunker who was the "Miss Oregon" competitor for the Miss America competition. I was living and teaching in Manhattan Kansas at the time and I sent a letter to her in care of the Oregon Pageant board but did not ever hear from her. So perhaps there is another 'Suzanne Bunker' out there somewhere.  [**See note below.]

Thanks for your note and the URL for your homepage. I will try to visit it soon. I hope to hear from you again.
Sincerely,
Suzanne Bunker   e-mail:  bunkers@lanecc.edu   -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Note:  Yes, there is another Suzanne Bunker who competed as Miss Oregon in the 1977 Miss America Contest.  A pageant story notes that "Miss Bunker was the only flutist in Saturday's competition. The senior from Lewis and Clark University executed a near perfect performance entitled "Fantasies for a Flute." She used her 12 years of flute training to hit a wide range of notes during her talent presentation.  The shortest contestant in the pageant, Miss Bunker is 21 years old and has studied piano for 14 years, and organ, ballet and voice for one year. Miss Oregon did not win a preliminary award in swimsuit or talent during competition earlier this week."  http://www.pressplus.com/missam/pastwinners/pw_1978.html  [Accessed on 8 June 2002]