Barbara Munro

Our dear mother, Barbara Lewis, was born during tough times in the early 30’s to a single

mother who suffered from bouts of depression. Always and forever a creative soul, our

mother devised happy little adventures, both for herself (earning pennies to purchase a

Christmas tree, dragging it home on a sled, and decorating it with bits of this and that) and

for the neighborhood children (acting as a pied piper, gathering stray kittens and hunting for

watercress along the local streams). Her creativity was handed down through a generation

of Italian artists, and she nurtured it at the Pratt Institute of Art in Brooklyn. There, she met

her lifelong friend, Dottie Godden, and her first husband. The latter turned out to be a

rascal, but mom was able to create three beautiful sons from that relationship: David,

Douglas, and Tommy.

She met our dad, Robert G. Munro, on a blind date. She allowed him to scoop her up, along

with her three young boys. Soon after, Meredith and Melissa were born. The family then

grew to include 4 children-in-laws, 6 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren (and

counting). Together, we continued glorious adventures: summers canoeing and camping in

the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, rehabilitating an old light house in the Sault Ste. Marie,

sailing, cooking Italian dinners and drinking red wine, discussing books and arguing politics

(often quite loudly, which she blamed on our Italian heritage).

Despite her tiny size (or perhaps because of it), mom was a fierce defender of the

underdog. She earned a master’s in social work in the 80s and went on to help abused

women and children as a counselor at the YWCA. She used to tell her grand-daughter, Eva,

to “carry a hat pin” when she went out at night.

Mom passed on September 6, 2026, at age 95. We can envision her now: perched on a log,

sketchbook on her lap, in front of a campfire, with her three sons and our father, all of

whom preceded her in death. She is likely flanked by her many big dogs and Siamese cats.

There are also a few cardinals on the fir trees overhead.

If you would like to honor her memory, we know she’d love donations to Arbor Day

Foundation (or just plant a tree!) and Planned Parenthood.