BOWDOINHAM – Louise Slater Huntington, 86, died Friday, March 6, 2020, at home, surrounded by family. She was in treatment for leukemia. Louise was born in Boston, Mass., to Helen (Frankenfeld) and John C. Slater.
She attended the Buckingham School and Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Mass. and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Radcliffe in 1956. She taught biology at the Northfield-Mt. Hermon School in Massachusetts and at Brunswick High School in the first years after college.
She met and married Bowdoin College biology professor Chuck Huntington in 1956. They had four children and lived in North Harpswell for over 60 years. The family lived in Oxford, England, in 1963-64 and in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1977-78.
Throughout her adult life, Louise was active public affairs, serving as president of the Brunswick League of Women Voters from 1959 to 1963. In Harpswell, she served on the planning board, the town building committee, and the comprehensive plan committee. From the time her children were old enough for Sunday School, she was a member of the Elljah Kellogg Church, where she was a deacon and devoted choir member.
Louise was an adept and committed educator. When her own children were young, she taught first grade at West Harpswell Elementary School for three years. She also taught at the The School for Parents and Children, later named the Thomas Point Primary School. She earned a master’s degree in reading education from the University of Southern Maine and volunteered as a reading instructor to adult learners.
Louise’s parents both played piano and she was a lifelong music-lover, singing in many choirs and playing violin and viola from a young age. She brought organizational skills and optimism to many musical projects in the area. In 1973, she co-founded the Brunswick Regional Youth Orchestra, in which three of her children played. Later she taught violin at Brunswick Junior High School. She was a founding member of the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra in 1990 and played in the orchestra until October 2019. She enjoyed playing in the Merrymeeting Musical Menagerie, and played string quartets with friends in Harpswell and China, Maine, every Friday morning for over 20 years. She attended chamber music workshops elsewhere in New England and Europe.
In 2018, she moved to Bowdoinham to be near her daughter Kate’s family and enjoyed playing bridge and attending lively book groups. Besides loving her family and music, she was also a skilled gardener and wonderful friend. Family, friends, college students, and exchange students were always enthusiastically welcomed to her home.
Louise is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Clarke R. and Helen Slater, of Ebchester, England; her son, Bill Huntington of Hope, her daughters, Kate Gray of Bowdoinham and Sarah Huntington of Olympia, Wash., her daughter-in-law, Anne Marie Huntington of Laramie, Wyo.; and beloved grandchildren; nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Fred Slater; husband, Chuck; and son, George.
Memorial service will be held 1 p.m., Saturday, April 4, at the Elijah Kellogg Church on Harpswell Road in Harpswell. To Leave a note of condolence of share a memory please visit www.brackettfh.com
In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the DaPonte String Quartet, the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra, the Coastal Youth Orchestra or the Elijah Kellogg Church.