Wender's Apparel

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Wender's Apparel was one of the oldest businesses in downtown Huntington when it closed in 2009.

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HUNTINGTON — As one of the oldest businesses in downtown Huntington, Wender's Apparel,
on the corner at 901 4th Ave., outfitted many of the area's most sophisticated women for 75 years.

The store closed in 2009 after the death of its longtime owner, Edna Dunkle.
 A victim of a heart attack, she was 72 and still running the women's
clothing store, where she had worked almost 55 years.

Dunkle owned the store for 45 years after she and her first husband,
 John Griffith, bought it from the Elderman family.

Following her mother's death, daughter Lisa Bragg recalled it was a big treat
to help out at the store when she was a little girl, unloading boxes
 or hanging up merchandise on Saturdays. And when she got
older, it was an exciting day when she could fit into
 Wender's clothing for the first time.

Her mother not only dressed to the nines, but knew what fashions were
right for other people, Bragg said. "She had a flair for it.
Something would come in, and she'd say, this looks
like so-and-so, and she'd call them."

Her job was one that she loved, with the exception of the bookkeeping,
her husband Ronald Dunkle said. "She hated the paperwork,
 but she loved the people. She loved to talk."

She also loved selling, Dunkle said. "She really enjoyed that part of it.
 She's probably the only one in town who still did everything with
 pencil and paper. I bought a cash register several years ago,
and it stayed out in the garage - still in the box it came
in. She didn't want it. Everything was done
 just like it was 50 years ago."

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Mar. 24, 2018.

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