HANOVER, N.H. —
Barbara married Harthon (Bud) Munson (Dartmouth 1948) in 1953 and began their married life at Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany where Bud was stationed as an AF Intelligence Officer. Subsequently, Bud’s international business career took them to a number of interesting locales including Chile, Kuwait and Washington, DC. Upon retirement in 1978 they settled in a 1790 farmhouse near Hanover Center where, upon restoration, Barbara managed a Bed and Breakfast known as Two Mile Farm for 10 years. There they happily welcomed guests and friends, often including invitations to dinner. They also enthusiastically attended many of Dartmouth’s theater, concerts, lectures and athletic events.
Barbara, an avid reader, was endlessly curious about life and never ceased to be delighted by the smallest detail or discovery. She passionately enjoyed exploring the natural world through hiking, photography, birding, and even adopting and writing about a baby raccoon. As a mother she delighted in teaching her children many of nature’s signals such as the brush of an owl’s wingtips in the snow, and how to rescue baby squirrels and help fledging birds to fly. She was also a prodigious gardener starting with a Victory garden in World War II. The villa garden in Kuwait flowered in the desert with citrus, bougainvillea, oleander, jasmine, and other trees and shrubs. For 35 years, friends and travelers along Hanover Center road much admired the extensive beds of various flowers in front of Two Mile Farm. For many years Barbara also contributed to conservation causes and volunteered at the Etna Ladies Aid Society.
Always the outdoor adventurer, Barbara while in college competed in the Vermont 100 mile trail ride from the Woodstock Inn stables on her thoroughbred mare. A year later she led a 3-month long bike trip in Alaska where riders often had to carry their bikes over rough roads and across rivers. She followed that by leading a group of teenagers on a biking excursion through several European countries. She loved hiking the White Mountains including leading her young children climbing Mt. Washington and traversing Franconia Ridge. She celebrated turning 60 by skydiving with her daughter, and hiked to Lonesome Lake in her 80s.
Barbara remained cheerfully optimistic and resolved even as medical problems progressively limited physical mobility. She radiated fortitude, kindness, love, grace, patience, humility, and concern for family until the end. She was predeceased by her brother, Dr. J. Leland Sosman and a niece, Justice Martha Sosman. She leaves behind her husband of 63 years; two sons, Douglas of Longmont, Colo. and Rolf of Boulder, Colo.; and daughters, Diana of Thetford, Vt. and Catherine Reed of Hanover; six grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
As she wished, her ashes combined with Bud’s will eventually be scattered in the New England mountains she so loved.