Obituary

Mon, 04/29/2019 - 12:46 pm

Peter Mundy died at home, as he had wished, on March 18 after a long battle with cancer. He had celebrated his 88th birthday with family on March 3.

He was the only child of Margaret Raye Mundy and Floyd Mundy , Jr., and lived in Scarsdale, New York until his parents divorced. He and his mother then moved to Norwalk, Connecticut. From his early childhood every summer was spent in Boothbay Harbor, Maine with his grandparents, William and Clara Raye. Sailing and power boating were his passion. (His great-grandfather was a sea captain sailing out of Fairhaven, Canada and later, Eastport, Maine.)

Pete spent two entire years in Boothbay Harbor with his mother during World War Il while his stepfather, Louis Harrod was serving overseas. He went to the tw0-room school that is now the Lions Club building. He ultimately attended Bowdoin College, and was goalie on its hockey team. After graduating in 1953, he took a position in Boston, taking advantage of his vacation to spend three weeks on his grandfather’s boat.

He met his future wife, Jackie Slaughter, while visiting his Mother in Norwalk. He used to boast that he married “ a gal from kalamazoo” as the hit song then described. (She had just relocated from Michigan to become a teacher in New Canaan, CT). They married in 1955 and Pete accepted a job with the IBM corporation in New York. Twenty years later they moved to Massachusetts, where Pete became director of personnel for the Northeast Region and Canada.

After Pete’s mother, who was living in Boothbay Harbor, died in 1983, Jackie urged him to take early retirement, so he could get back to his Maine roots. They built a home in 1985, named Fairhaven, on land that had belonged to his grandparents. His passion was still boating, and summers were spent cruising the Maine coast.

Like his grandfather, Pete became active in the community ... driving for F.I.S.H.; serving as treasurer and later as president of the YMCA; commodore of the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club; chairman of the St. Andrews Hospital board; and a trustee of the Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church.

He and Jackie managed to travel, ascribing to the philosophy of “ see America first.” Their 50th wedding anniversary was spent on an Alaskan cruise. They also spent time living on their Grand Banks trawler in Florida. He was proud that he had navigated their boat to and from Florida four times without ever scraping bottom!

Family and friends describe Pete as a humble man, with a great sense of humor ... often laughing at himself as well. He enjoyed golfing with his good friends, walking two miles every day on the Y track, and cooking lobsters for all visitors. He cherished his wife of nearly 64 years and his family. He loved animals, both his own pets over the years, and the birds and wildlife in the Cove and wooded areas around their home. As Jackie says, “Pete was one of the good guys of this world. He always felt that because he had been so blessed in his life, he should try to give back to the community and those less fortunate than he.”

Besides his wife, Pete is survived by son Peter P. Mundy and his wife Ellen; daughter, Margaret Cowe; seven grandchildren; and four great grandchildren. His Boothbay Harbor cousins (Bill and Jan Hamblen, Betty and Ted Repa, and David and Susi Hamblen,) were to him the “brothers and sisters” he never had.

A Memorial Service to celebrate Pete's life will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 11 at the Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor, 125 Townsend Ave. Boothbay Harbor, ME.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Pete's memory may be made to Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor, P.O. Box 468, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538, Boothbay Region YMCA, P.O. Box 500, Boothbay Harbor, ME 04538, or the Peter & Jackie Mundy Endowed Scholarship Fund, Maine Medical Center, Philanthropy Department, 22 Bramhall Street, Portland, ME 04102.

Hall's of Boothbay has care of the arrangements. To extend online condolences, please visit hallfuneralhomes.com