Josephine P. Dunn | Optometrist, 92

Josephine Prudenti Dunn, 92, of Media, an optometrist and a business owner, died of kidney failure Monday at Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood.

Dr. Dunn graduated from Cathedral High School in Trenton. She attended the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and studied premed at the University of Pennsylvania. When she realized she would want to balance a career and family, she earned a degree from the former Pennsylvania State College of Optometry, said her son, George Jr.

For 20 years, she practiced out of her home in Drexel Hill and helped manage her family's restaurants, the Mansion House in Upper Darby and a luncheonette on Long Beach Island. In 1948 she married George Dunn Sr., a Mansion House patron. They built the Brighton Manor Motel on Long Beach Island in 1964 and operated it every summer until 1986.

She could do anything from wallpapering to electrical repairs, her son said. She cooked and baked, knit sweaters, and made draperies and a daughter's wedding dress, he said. She enjoyed going on cruises, playing the piano and accordion, and dabbling in the stock market.

In addition to her son, Dr. Dunn is survived by daughters Janet Ferraro and Judy and six grandchildren. Her husband died in 1995.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. Andrew Church, 3500 School Lane, Drexel Hill. Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. today and 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. tomorrow at the Donohue Funeral Home, 3300 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.