Muriel Lee Lundy

Muriel Lee Lundy passed quietly in her sleep on March 25, 2023 in Worthington, Ohio. She was 85 years old, having been born on May 1, 1937 in Wheeling, West Virginia. In her last few years, Muriel was fondly remembered by caregivers at Kemper House for the same traits her family had cherished for decades — her loving smile, joyful laugh, and her abiding sense of propriety accompanied by a good dose of pluck. As the youngest child of an electrical engineer and a school teacher from the plains of Colorado, Muriel inherited engrained family traditions: hardy stalwart character, a dedication to self-betterment through education, and a very strong sense of family heritage. She carried on those traditions and much more. A graduate of Kent State University (BA), Boston University (MA), and University of North Carolina - Greensboro (Ed. D.), teaching was her life’s work. Her first job was as a teacher for military children at an Army base in Germany starting in 1959. She used that as platform to travel throughout Europe, the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, and the Middle East, living out a teenage dream of traveling the world. She taught in the Newton, MA public schools, was a public-school administrator in the Columbus, Minneapolis, and Phoenix school systems, and finished up her career on Cape Cod, MA as an elementary school principal in Harwich. In retirement, Muriel divided her time between homes on Cape Cod and Phoenix. Both the American West and the historic charm of Cape Cod filled her heart with wonder for their unique grandeur. Frequent global travel fed a fascination with cultures from Africa to the Far East and beyond. Muriel’s travels brought experiences like riding an elephant to her lodging in India, camel riding in Egypt, exploring numerous vastly different cultures, safaris, collecting local cultural artwork, while taking occasional travel breaks in places like South Africa or Fiji. She was a cultured, urbane, and stylish woman who was often adorned with costume jewelry. This was her world. But our world with Aunt Muriel was far different. She immersed herself in the warmth of family gatherings in Vermont, Cape Cod, Arizona, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations in West Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio. We shared simple things like a pot of steamed clams, frying a turkey, Christmas Eve church service with full choir and orchestra and Muriel’s’ full-length beaver overcoat, searching for Lundy family graves in Fort Morgan, CO, her cackling laugh, lobster races, tying Christmas bows on family dogs Tillie, Millie, and Andi, picking out fresh seafood at a Harwich fish market, looking at family photos from the early 1900s, putting on make-up with her grandnieces, lallygagging on a Cape Cod beach or strolling the Cape Cod Bay flats at low tide, staring at the glorious sun-drenched red rocks of Sedona, AZ, and of course wanting to know all about our careers and each of the kids’ progress as they grew over time. Muriel Lee Lundy, the last surviving member of our Lundy family name and its pioneering American heritage from 1676 on that we all cherish, lives in our each of our hearts. Muriel found special meaning in Romans 8:28—"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” She certainly lived that creed. We know she rests soulfully in peace, joining her beloved parents Ed and Mae Lundy, to whom she was extremely devoted and about whom she regularly inquired these last several years. Muriel was also preceded in death by her loving older sister, Winnie, and is survived by her nephews Brad Bachmann of Centerville, Ohio and Gregg Bachmann (Sue) of Worthington, Ohio and nieces and nephews Molly, Gracie, and Sam (Gregg and Sue), Courtney, and Jack (Brad and Vicki). Donations in Muriel’s memory may be made to Kemper House (https://kemperhouseworthington.com/donate/) or the Cape Cod Community Foundation Harwich Fund (https://www.capecodfoundation.org/donate-town-fund/).

Muriel Lee Lundy

May 1, 1937 - March 25, 2023