Died March 6, 1939 – August 2019,Danvers, Massachusetts
College: Davenport
Major: History
Graduate School: Pacific School of Religion, B.D., Religion, 1965
Widow: Mrs. Lois Irene Lundell
95 Phillips Avenue
Rockport, MA 01966-1036
978-546-5945
palundell@aya.yale.edu
Children: P. Briton Lundell, 1959; Victoria L. Lundell, 1961; Alicia A. Lundell, 1963
Grandchildren: Jeffrey Kain, 1989; Caitlin Lundell, 1991; Rachel Kain, 1991; Hannah Lundell, 1994; Peter C. Lundell, 1997; John Lundell, 1997
Peter A. Lundell, 80, of Rockport, MA, beloved husband of Lois Lundell, died in home hospice on August 30, 2019, supported by his family and a cadre of fine medical practitioners from the MGH North Shore Cancer Center in Danvers, MA, after a nine-year struggle with prostate, multiple myeloma and esophageal cancers.
An avid athlete and musician, and a staunch environmentalist, Peter loved listening to classical music, reading, tinkering, organic gardening, recycling, and working with computers. He was known for his gentleness and his boundless sense of humor, and he was an environmentalist to his core. He enjoyed cross-country skiing, sailing, track & field, and playing ensemble music with friends. He will be missed by all of us who knew him!
Peter donated his body to the Harvard Medical School through Harvard’s Anatomical Gift Program and the Campbell Funeral Home. There will be a 2pm Memorial Service, followed by light refreshments, on Sunday, September 29, at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport, 4 Cleaves Street, Rockport, MA.
Donations in Peter’s memory may be made to the wonderful oncology staff of the MGH North Shore Cancer Center in Danvers. Gifts can be made online at give.massgeneral.org/northshorecancercenter, or mailed to the Mass General Development Office, 125 Nashua Street, Suite 540, Boston, MA 02114-1101.
Born March 6, 1939 in Fort Wayne, IN, the son of Carl G. and Elizabeth P. Lundell, Peter attended local schools there, graduating 6th in his class at North Side High School. He was a multiple sport athlete, lettering in track, football and basketball, and was chosen for several all-city, all-conference and all-state football teams. He set the Indiana state record (48.8) for the 440 yard dash in his senior year and anchored the Indiana record-setting (3:19.0) mile relay team with a 48.2 anchor leg.
His early summers were spent at his parent’s cottage on beautiful Walloon Lake in Northern Michigan, where he learned to sail. Sailing remained a part of his life for years and, beginning in 1974, included week long cruises with his second wife Lois (Munson) and friends in the North Channel of Lake Huron on boats provided through the metro Detroit area American Youth Hostel program. That same youth hostel organization later introduced him to the pleasures of cross-country skiing, which became part of his life for the next 35 years until climate change and cancer made it impracticable. At age 56, Peter returned to running at the senior level and for six more years he enjoyed much pleasure and success in returning to the sprints and field events he enjoyed as a youth.
Peter graduated from Yale University, majoring in History. During his sophomore year he lived off campus with his first wife, Judy (Clark); in his junior year they lived off campus with their first child, a son, Peter Briton (“Brit”). Peter graduated in 1961 and received a Rockefeller Fellowship for one year of study at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA, graduating in 1965 with a concentration in Ethics. During his seminary years his second and third children were born: Victoria Lynn and Alicia Anne. After seminary, Peter worked for five years as an Assistant then Associate Pastor at the Drayton Avenue Presbyterian Church in Ferndale, MI.
In 1970, he left the ministry to work as an investigator, then as a mediator, and then as an investigation supervisor for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights Enforcement Division. In 1973, he married his second wife, Lois.
After he was laid off from the Civil Rights Division during the recession of 1990-91, he began working with the Tax Division of the Michigan Employment Agency, developing in-house small data base systems for case management. He retired in 2000, and he and Lois traveled with an Elderhostel group tracing ancestral links in Sweden. In 2002, they settled in Rockport, MA.
In 1970, Peter developed an interest in learning to play the classical guitar and found opportunities to play duets with friends during the rest of his life. He also learned to play early period instruments called recorders. and he and Lois hosted recorder ensembles in their homes over the past 45 years. In the ’70s he sang bass with a community choir accompanying the Detroit Symphony in choral pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart, Handel, Vaughn Williams and others, and later sang in the choir with the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport.
Peter is survived by his wife of 46 years, Lois; his children, Brit Lundell and his spouse Maureen of Weston FL, Vicky Lundell and her partner Chris Bailey of Bloomville, NY, Alicia Lundell and her partner Kevin Lysik of Lathrup Village, MI; his brother Philip Lundell of Georgetown, TX; and his step-children, Kathy Light and her spouse Steven of Marshfield, VT, Vicki Brennan and her spouse Richard of Rochester Hills, MI, Lianne Johnson and her spouse Reid of Los Angeles, CA, Nancy Beachum and her spouse Hartmutt Segolla of Brooklyn, MI, Cheryl Thurman and her spouse Tim of Annisquam, MA, David Munson and his spouse Monica of Arlington, MA. He also is survived by six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, 15 step-grandchildren, and 8 step-great-grandchildren.