Local icon Edith Barr Dunn dies at 94

Longtime Shenkel’s restaurant owner, philanthropist and volunteer Edith Barr Dunn died last night, four days after her friends and family members gathered at Marina Jack in Sarasota to celebrate her life. She was 94.

Barr Dunn had decided to throw the party just two days earlier, but despite the short notice more than 125 people attended.

Dunn wore a white, rhinestone-studded Stetson hat and sipped her favorite drink — a martini — while she reminisced with friends.

“Edith decided she was going to buy one last cocktail for her friends,” said Dunn’s friend, Bernie Gottshalk, who worked for Barr Dunn as a Shenkel’s waitress.

Born Oct. 20, 1920, in Pontypridd, Wales, she immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1930s. She married when she was in her 20s and had two sons, Kenny Barr and Loyall Barr II.

Barr Dunn moved to Sarasota in the 1950s, where her parents, Jimmy and Sue Jones, and sister and her husband, Nell and Rich Shenkel, had opened the Waffle Shop Restaurant. She worked the restaurant counter at the restaurant, where she served a not-yet-famous Elvis Presley, who was performing at the Florida Theater.

She went on to open Barr’s Restaurant on North Tamiami Trail, where she met her second husband, Gus Dunn.

Dunn’s sister and brother-in-law had opened another restaurant, Shenkel’s on Longboat Key, in the 1950s. When the Shenkels retired, the Dunns moved to Longboat Key. Dunn and her son, Kenny, spent the next 35 years operating the restaurant.

Under Barr Dunn’s ownership, the restaurant became so popular that there was often a long line for Sunday breakfast.

Barr Dunn also used the restaurant to support an array of charitable organizations in the community. The restaurant was the site of breakfast meetings for the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key and hosted countless benefits for various causes.

Barr Dunn closed Shenkel’s in 1994, and her son, Kenny, opened Sports Page on Main Street with business partner Bob Richards.

Although Barr Dunn had technically retired, she thrust herself full time into supporting charities.
She continued to organize 50/50 raffles at the St. Jude Gourmet Luncheon and later, the Longboat Key Gourmet Lawn Party, and supported numerous charities such as Toys for Tots, Catholic Charities and United Way.

Barr Dunn was a frequent bell-ringer during the holiday season outside of Longboat Key Publix through 2013.

“She would put her Santa hat on, and she would dance and have her boom box playing Christmas carols, sometimes for four or five hours,” said friend Sylvia Babineau.

Barr Dunn received numerous accolades for her support of community causes. She was named the 1984 Citizen of the Year by the Kiwanis Club, Queen of the 1998 Hospice Mardi Gras and as a recipient of the “They Make a Difference” award for outstanding Longboat Key citizens.

“She always had a cause: Toys for Tots. St. Jude, Salvation Army...” wrote retired Longboat Observer Senior Editor Dora Walters in an email. “Whatever it was, she did it heart and soul and had the ability to convince or con others into joining her. She wouldn't take no for an answer.”

For more information, pick up a Feb. 12 copy of the Longboat Observer.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].