CELESTINE ARNDT

ARNDT--Celestine Favrot.

1940-2018. Celestine Favrot Arndt died at her home in Encino, CA, on Saturday, July 21st, surrounded by her beloved family. She was 77. Ms. Arndt was born August 3, 1940 in Houston, TX, to Laurence H. Favrot, a businessman and philanthropist, and Johanna de Kanter Favrot, a devoted mother and supporter of historic preservation. She attended St. John's School in Houston, which she loved, and Brillantmont School in Lausanne, Switzerland, which she detested. She studied with philosophers Richard Rorty and Stanley Cavell at Wellesley and at UC Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy. In 1962, she married Thomas Moore Arndt, with whom she had four sons. They lived in Taipei, Taiwan, from 1962 to 1965; New Delhi, India, from 1967 to 1969; and Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 1976 to 1978. Between stints overseas, they lived in a drafty, wood-sided house at the end of a dirt road in McLean, VA. Ms. Arndt earned an M.A. in Medical Sociology from George Washington University, for fieldwork she did on Ayurvedic medicine while staying with Buddhist monks in Wegeriya, a small mountain village in rural Sri Lanka. After her husband died in 1985, she spent a year traveling the world. She returned to Washington, DC, and worked for three years as Assistant to the Director of the Federation of American Scientists. In 1993 she began a long and loving relationship with Sonny Fox, then Chair of the Board of Population Communications International, and a former host of the children's television show, Wonderama. She moved to California in 1994, to live with Mr. Fox in the hills above Encino. Ms. Arndt was a passionate activist and supporter of many non-profits, including the World Wildlife Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Population Communications International. She deeply loved and was loved by her four sons: Dr. Channing Arndt, Division Director of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, DC; Dr. David Arndt, Tutor at Saint Mary's College of California; Michael Arndt, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of "Little Miss Sunshine;" and Christopher Arndt, author and President of the Cornet Creek Foundation in Telluride, CO. She disavowed all credit or blame for her sons' endeavors. She was not without flaws. Her sense of adventure was occasionally unencumbered by prudence or common sense. Her taste in sofa upholstery lapsed in the early 1970's. But she was also extraordinarily thoughtful, gracious, kind-hearted and warm. She had a genius for friendship, and for bringing out the best in people around her. In 2013 she was diagnosed with Stage III ovarian cancer, which she fought for five years with stoicism and grace. She was a philosopher to the end, facing death with courage, humor, and serenity. Some virtues are self- effacing: kindness is discreet; wisdom does not claim to be wise; true generosity gives in secret. So the best-lived lives are sometimes the least known. Such was the life of Celestine Favrot Arndt. She is survived by Mr. Fox; by her brother, Dr. Laurence Favrot, Jr. of San Diego, California; by two sisters: Dr. Jeanette Peterson of Rancho Santa Fe, CA, and Ms. Romelia Favrot of Johnson City, TX; by her four sons; and by six grandchildren: Abigail, Henry, Mason, Athena, Alden, and Graham. In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations in her name to one of the non-profits she supported, and that all who knew and loved her register and vote in the mid-term elections in November.