Muriel Beck Bodenweber

Muriel Beck Bodenweber, age 92, Newport, RI, passed away quietly with her family by her side on Memorial Day, May 26, 2025. Muriel is survived by five children and two stepchildren, eight grandchildren and 2 step-grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Her children are Cynthia (Cindy) Beck Love married to Mark Love, parents of Rebecca, Melissa and Eric; Donald Frederick Beck; David John Beck; Daniel Keenan Beck married to Stephanie Beck, parents of Carlee and Devin; Katherine McPherson Beck married to Deb Sherwin, parents of Sarah, Nate, Cole, Tom and Heather; Jennifer Bodenweber; and Joanna Bodenweber married to Geoff Fried.

Muriel Lou Bone was born at West Haven (CT) Maternity Home on August 30, 1932. Her father, Harold McPherson Bone was a “Variety” (show biz newspaper) drama critic and an editor, writer and printer of “New Haven Info.” Her mother, Estelle Marie Keenan Bone, was a homemaker and successful fashion consultant. Muriel had a younger sister, Cynthia Harma Bone, married to Richard (Randy} Goldrick. Both died in 2022 and are survived by four daughters and their families.

Muriel grew up in West Haven, graduating high school at age 16. She attended University of Connecticut at Storrs for two years and left to marry John George Beck. The marriage ended in divorce in 1974 and John died in 1999. Muriel and John lived in Gilead and Prospect, Connecticut and Rochester and Perry, New York while John served as pastor at several United Church of Christ churches and Muriel was a homemaker raising five children born in 10 years. Muriel was very supportive of her children’s numerous activities, mostly at church and in music. All the children attended Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, where Muriel was a very active volunteer for many years. Muriel was also active in 4-H, scouting, Sunday school, youth fellowship, band, children’s choir and a host of other family activities.

In 1971, Muriel returned to UConn and completed her degree in Home Economics. The year she graduated, she was mentioned in UConn press releases as an unusual student: earning her degree while she had five children at home. Then Muriel started her teaching career with the mandatory Home Economics classes in middle school in Amity CT. Later, when Home Economics was eliminated from the curriculum, Muriel re-invented herself as the school’s primary resource for implementing personal computers for the first time in a school setting and taught mandatory Computer Science to every Amity student. In 1980, she earned a Master’s degree from Southern Connecticut State College in American History. Muriel retired in 1998 after 25 years of service in the Amity schools.

Muriel was a gifted craftswoman who designed and made most of her and her young children’s clothes and one daughter’s wedding dress, was a master of weaving, rug hooking, needlepoint, embroidery and knitting. Many of her gifts to family and friends were handmade garments, decorative pillows, hooked rugs and wall hangings. She was also an early adopter of digital photography and computer photo editing, taking many college photography courses. Muriel gardened indoors and outdoors and for many years arranged the altar flowers for Sunday services and special events.

Muriel loved travel. As a young mom, she spent every August tent-camping around New England and New York. Later, she made dozens of trips with Elderhostel (now Road Scholar) touring extensively in Latin America, North America and Europe. Her furthest destinations were Fiji and a safari in Africa. She especially liked Romania, returning there several times. She took her youngest grandchildren on many intergenerational summer trips and visited her older grandchildren at their colleges and study-abroad programs.

In 1982, Muriel married Ernest Bodenweber, who passed away in 2023. Muriel and Ernie shared their late working years and retirement in Derby CT. They traveled together and enjoyed many activities with their grandchildren. They were active in the West Haven Congregational Church until Ernie’s retirement as pastor, the Orange Congregational Church, and the First Presbyterian Church, New Haven.

In her last decade, as she bravely struggled with vascular dementia, Muriel lived at Mary Wade Home in New Haven, where she continued to be active in the New Haven Friends [Quaker] Meeting. She also lived in Rogerson House in Jamaica Plain, MA and spent her final year at St. Clare in Newport, RI. With respect and gratitude, her family commends the staff who provided kind care and friendship to Muriel.

Muriel was clever, funny, smart, generous with her time and talents, a devoted friend, and a very involved grandma. She could organize, manage and cater most anything whether weddings, dinner parties, concerts, church events or reunions. She volunteered with many places, including her churches, Yale School of Music, refugee resettlement programs, and services for unhoused people.

She was keenly interested in news and politics, always well-informed and dedicated to social justice, especially women’s rights, reproductive rights and racial equality. She loved flowers, nature, animals, the beach, sunsets and spectacular scenery. She was proud of her father’s Scottish background and her mother’s ancestry dating back to the 1600s in Stonington CT. She was full of energy and had an unquenchable curiosity about people and life. And she loved a good story. Her life was a good story.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 26, 2025 at 11:00 am at St Andrew Lutheran Church, 15 East Beach Road, Charlestown RI. All are invited to a reception in the church hall. Inurnment will be at Riverbend Cemetery in Westerly RI.

To view Muriel’s service via livestream, please visit youtube.com/@st.andrewlutheranchurchri1254.

Muriel suggested donations in her memory to Neighborhood Music School Grace Feldman Endowment Award for Ensemble Excellence or a charity of your choosing.