A Blended ‘Bunch’ John and Jennifer Bunch Believe Happiness = Success
by Anna Cannon
Upon graduating high school and heading off to college, many students have an idea of their “master plans”: what they’ll study, where they’ll work, who they’ll marry, and who they’ll be as adults. For a select few, the master plan works. For most people, however, things get messy: majors switch, careers take different turns, relationships change. In other words, life happens. Often times, families become blended.
The latter is true for John and Jennifer Bunch, and for the winding roads that have led them to where they are today, they’re thankful. Parenting three beautiful girls and guiding them toward happy lives are the driving elements for the Bunches.
John and Jen graduated from Pleasant Grove High School before going their separate ways and leaving Texarkana. Decades passed and life happened; each had children from previous marriages: Jen’s daughters, Hannah and Megan Brandon, and John’s daughter, Abby Bunch. Reconnecting as single adults, John and Jen knew that they were a good fit, and they got married in 2013 and moved back to Texarkana soon after.
“I had a big crush on Jen in the ninth grade, but she didn’t know it,” John said. “We’ve known each other since high school, and then we kind of reconnected again as adults. It’s funny because she went her way and I went mine, but we both ended up back in Texarkana in Pleasant Grove. We bought a house that’s probably less than half a mile away from where we each grew up.”
John is an advisor to many students on a daily basis at Texas High School. He and Jen both believe strongly in the importance of education. John just finished his master’s degree this past summer, and the women in his life are proud of his accomplishments. Daughter Hannah is 20 and in her junior year at Ouachita Baptist University, and Megan, 18, is a first-year student at Southern Arkansas University. Abby is 13 and in the 8th grade at Texas Middle School.
“We’re pretty laid back at our house,” Jen said. “For the most part, I think we’re just trying to give the girls all the tools they need to be successful. They know they have a very big safety net to fall back on if they need support and for whatever they need.”
When John first went to college, he planned on being a band director, but changed his mind and worked full-time as a photographer from 2008 – 2013 before moving back to Texarkana.
“I originally went to college to be a music education major, and then I decided I really didn’t want to ride a school bus every Friday night, so I changed and went to mass communications because I thought it would be fun, and it would be something I’m decent at,” John said. “It was a good switch; it worked out pretty well. I started photography in high school when I was on the yearbook staff. I did a lot of sports photography in college, and I dabbled in it off and on for years. I still do it ‘part-time,’ but I probably spend as much time doing that as I do at [my full-time job].”
John’s photography is his claim to fame; in 2015, he took pictures of Jessa Duggar Seewald, her husband, and their new baby for the cover of People Magazine. Jessa’s parents are Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the stars of 19 Kids and Counting. She and her sister now have their own show on TBS called Counting on with Jill and Jess.
“[The Seewalds] had an exclusive with People Magazine to take the first pictures of their new baby,” John said. “It’s kind of hard to tell when things are going to happen, and People couldn’t get a photographer from New York down in time to do it. Their agent is a friend of mine from college, and he called me on a weekend and said, ‘Do you think you can do this? I can set it up if you want to do it.’”
John’s daily profession as an academic adviser at Texas High School is rewarding, too. “I like that what we do at Texas High actually has some sort of benefit for people,” he said. “There are kids who you have to call in and really stay on them to pass their classes, because they don’t always have someone at home pushing them. At the end of the day [at other jobs], it’s about how much money you made. At the end of the day here, we’ve done something that’s going to help people accomplish what they want to later. It’s rewarding.”
At a school like Texas High, John comes in contact with kids from all walks of life and educational backgrounds. Some students are able to pass classes and graduate with ease, but meeting graduation requirements is a lot harder for others. “We have kids here who breeze through pretty easily, and then there are kids who have a really, really hard time passing Algebra 1 or English 2, classes like that,” John said. “A lot of times I think those kids appreciate graduating more than a kid who went through high school without much effort. The inspiring part to me is seeing those kids who don’t have much at home, who don’t have anyone to help them. They may go through periods where they don’t have running water or electricity, so to overcome those kinds of obstacles and still manage to graduate, that’s pretty cool.”
Jen originally planned on being a teacher; she was working on her education degree at Stephen F. Austin University when she was offered a management position at Applebee’s, which she accepted. She now works as a manager at Chili’s.
“My college job was at Applebee’s; I was waiting tables, and I worked so much that I learned every position, and they offered me a management position before I finished my teaching degree. It paid more, so I took it for a little while and just never left it,” Jen said. “I did that until 2003 and took some time off, and then I went back when they opened On the Border and managed there for eight years, and I’ve been at Chili’s for the last five. It was just one of those things that fit for me, it was fun, and it all worked out.”
To attend college, Hannah and Megan rely heavily on merit-based scholarships that require them to keep their GPAs above a certain point.
“A lot of it they have to work for themselves. Hannah has a ton of scholarships through academics, and then the rest of it is a combination of student loans and what her dad and I pay every month,” Jen said. “For Megan, it’s the same way. There’s accountability with the scholarships, because they have to keep a certain GPA or they’ll lose them. If they lose them, we can’t necessarily make up that difference, and that would mean a change in plans, so that gives them motivation to stay academically where they need to be also.”
Parenting in a blended family is a balancing act; as a stepfather or stepmother, it’s important not to overstep your boundaries while also being involved enough in your stepchildren’s lives. “For me, her girls have a dad, so that’s not my role. I’m there to support and encourage,” John said. “At the ages [Hannah and Megan] are, there’s not really any issue with discipline. They’re good kids, and they’re older, so the hard part of raising them was done by the time I came around. I just encourage them and support them, work with them on things, help them understand what’s coming and how to do things like how to jumpstart a car or change a flat tire.”
Jen’s parenting role is a bit different: 13-year-old Abby lost her biological mother at a young age, so she doesn’t see Jen as a “step” anything. “Ultimately, Jennifer is the only mother Abby will ever know,” John said. “Abby’s [biological] maternal grandparents had no other children, so Abby is it [for them], and we include them in everything: celebrations, graduations, and special events for all three girls. They’ve sort of adopted Jen’s girls as grandkids, too.”
Like most parents, John and Jen just want their kids to be happy with their lives, regardless of whether their “master plans” work out in the end.
“We want them to be happy and successful. Whatever they want to do, we want to make sure they have the opportunity to study it and go that direction,” Jen said. “I hope they all end up doing something they’re passionate about, and go in every day ready to do it and not thinking, ‘Ugh, I have to go to work.’ I just want them to be happy and feel successful and fulfilled in whatever they do.”
