Edith Carolyn Lund

Edith Carolyn Lund, 81, took her last breaths October 29, 2022, as her family sang "Shepherd Me, O God" and "Be Not Afraid." She was a loving sister, friend, mother, and grandmother but a ruthless competitor in Scrabble and the frenzied card game spit.

Born on New Year's Day in Boston in 1941 to Juliet Litman Lund and Dr. Herbert Z. Lund Jr., Edith grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, until 1952, when the family moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. She earned a BA in Spanish at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1963, she lived with family friends in Rosario, Argentina, improving her Spanish so much that within the six months of her stay, Argentines were taking her for one of their own.

Settling in the DC area in 1967, she worked at the Library of Congress before she stayed home with her children. She later worked at the General Services Administration, the US Navy, and the US Geological Survey, and retired after 30 years of federal service.

Edith was a gifted artist, using pens and colored pencils to breathe life into visions from her astonishing imagination, from partying cartoon people to a mind-bending doodle to a gentle forest scene. She read widely, demonstrated for humanitarian causes, and walked every day outdoors. She sang alto in choirs and played classical and ragtime piano. When she heard a good beat, she'd jump up to dance the Charleston. She had the best goofy faces, contorting her mouth diagonally in one direction, then the other, while separately waggling each eyebrow and crossing and uncrossing each eye. She made life a happy discovery.

She was survived by her children: Hannah (Gary) Taylor, Zachary (Sarah) Conron, and Erin (Chas) Lum; grandsons Sam Taylor and Parker Lum; siblings John Lund, Tooky (Howard) Schuyler, and Larry (Nancy) Lund; and her close-knit extended family. Donations in Edith's honor can be made to Penn Frontotemporal Degeneration Center Gift Fund at https://giving.aws.cloud.upenn.edu/.