Faith Munson

MUNSON, FAITH WITTE



With great love and sorrow we bid Godspeed to Faith Witte Munson, who died of complications from leukemia on Tuesday morning, July 10, 2007. She was born in Harvard, Massachusetts in 1933, the fifth of seven children, and grew up in Belmont, Mass. She graduated from the Cambridge School in 1950, and from Smith College in 1954.



Faith loved her family, her friends, her gardens, her painting and knitting, and singing with the Tree Frog Choir. She was a devoted correspondent and advocate of "snail mail." She was an active member of the Bainbridge community, Winslow Cohousing Community, Cedars Unitarian Universalist Church, and a hospice and Helpline volunteer. Every year of her life Faith visited the family's beloved summer cottage, The Stone Turtle, in Little Deer Isle, Maine. She loved to travel and lived in Italy and in London.



She worked as an art educator at the Memorial Gallery in Rochester, New York, where she met John Munson, who became her husband of 48 years. She continued her career as an artist in Gainesville, Florida where she and John lived with their three daughters for 31 years. In her 40s she returned to school at the University of Florida to become a physical therapist, a second career she enjoyed for many years. Faith and John moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1998, to Winslow Cohousing Community.



Faith is survived by her husband John, daughters Cory, Johanna and husband Bill Branley, Kibby and husband Adam MacKinnon, grandchildren Alex and Claire Branley, and Theo MacKinnon, and siblings Nicholas Witte, Isabel Kenrick, Penelope Witte Allderdice, Betsy Gotwals and Polly Wright, their families, and her many friends.



A memorial service will be held at 4 pm on Sunday, July 15 at Hyla Middle School on Bainbridge Island. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her honor to the Bainbridge Library and to the Island Heritage Trust, Deer Isle, Maine. Arrangements are under the direction of Cook Family Funeral Home. Guests are invited to bring a vase of flowers from their gardens to honor Faith's love of gardening.