Arva Bunting

In one of the very comforting letters I have received during this difficult time it was written that women are the memory keepers of the family. So today I will tell some of my memories and the memories passed on to me by my Mother and Grandmothers as we celebrate the life of Arva Bunting.

Our Mother, Arva Bunting, was born to Bernard and Vena Voss on June 15, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her early life was influenced by two factors. The first factor was the Great Depression. Her father lost his business and their home. They managed to keep a summer cottage at Silver Lake in which they lived in as long as they could before the winter cold forced them to seek boarding house rooms in Grand Rapids. This also meant that her desire to study interior decorating in Chicago was not realized.

The second factor - her mother’s illness resulted in such severe rheumatoid arthritis that she was an invalid for the rest of her life. Mom took care of her mother and did household chores, wrote her letters and did the shopping.

she attended Grand Rapids Junior College where she met her husband, Curtis Bunting. She would go to dances and watch Dad play in his band. When Dad joined the Navy he called her one night at 2:00 AM and asked her to marry him. Having woken up to answer the phone she said yes and went back to sleep. In the morning she didn’t remember the call. Dad’s mother called her to tell her how happy she was that they were engaged. Mom had to go and explain the situation to her. Grandmother Bunting told her that no gentleman would call in the middle of the night and propose. Somehow they worked it out again and were married on Sept. 17, 1942.

During the war Mom tried to be at port when Dad came back from a war patrol to welcome him. In between times she would go back to Michigan. I showed up in 1943 and remember living in a Quonset hut in Vallejo, CA when the war finally ended. Mom told me that the churches in Grand Rapids were opened 24 hours a day so that you could go to pray for your loved ones.

After the war Dad finished his BS degree in 18 months at the University of Illinois while Mom again stayed in Grand Rapids, giving birth to my brother David during a terrible snowstorm. Afterwards Dad took up his Navy career once more and in 25 years they moved 21 times. Within 2 months of moving to a new home Mom had painted every room and hung curtains in all the windows. Mark was born in Washington, DC and Dad was finally around to drive her to the hospital.

Then they came to Newport and fell in love with the city and its people. Mom entered into community life with great enthusiasm.

She was

• A guide at the Wanton Lyman Hazard house cooking at the fireplace

• Swinburne School committee member

• For Christmas in Newport she lined up homes for their candlelight tours

• Later on she worked on house tours to benefit Rose Island Light House

• In April of 1980, she was one of nine women who opened the doors of Newport Needleworks. To quote Corky Anderson, “ prior to that we were all meeting together weekly to do needlework. It was our mutual love for handwork of all kinds that brought us together and formed the initial 'common thread' between all of our lives. The shop grew out of that shared interest”.

• Trinity Church – the Altar Guild - especially the flower arranging, Church Tours, her participation in the weekly healing Prayer Group (on visits to us she would prayer daily for those on her list) and her work on the kneelers – “Arva's roll with the kneelers at Trinity and other churches is legendary... if she didn't design them, she pulled all the yarns for them, used her incredible color sense to pull everything together and held the hands of all the stitchers who worked on the projects….”

In the last few years Mom came to live in California 6 blocks away from us in a wonderful assisted living home with a caring staff. It was a privilege and a joy to have her with us in our daily life after years of living apart. All of us will remember her for her extraordinary kindness, her smile, and her deep love for all of us.

In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Trinity Church Altar Guild, Queen Anne Square, Newport, RI 02840 or to the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation, 365 Thames Street, Newport, RI 02840.

Arrangements under the direction of Pacific View Memorial Park and Mortuary FD1176, Corona Del Mar, CA.