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In Memory

Lewis Munk - Class of 1925

Lewis Edward Munk Jr., 98, passed away at his home in Montpelier on Monday, Nov. 28, 2005. Lewis was born Sept. 29, 1907, in Bennington, Idaho, to Lewis Edgar and Frances Wright Munk. He attended local schools and graduated from Montpelier High School in 1925. In 1929, he graduated from Brigham Young University, where he was a sports reporter for the Associated Press and lettered several years as a member of the university’s tennis team. For the next five years he taught English and was the first football coach at Snowflake, Arizona High School.

In the mid-1930s, Lewis returned to Bear Lake County, where, except for one year, he taught a variety of subjects at Georgetown High School and Grade School and Montpelier and Bear Lake High Schools until his retirement in 1970. He was particularly known for his English classes and the encouragement he gave his students to pursue higher education.

During his teaching years and for a decade or so thereafter he farmed, mainly in the Georgetown area. There, he pioneered the growing of strawberries and raspberries. He harvested his last crop of berries and corn in the fall of his passing.

As a young man Lewis was a pitcher and catcher for a number of baseball teams in the Bear Lake area. He was also an avid fisherman and bowler. At age 83, he took up golf, with great enthusiasm. His last golf outing took place on his 98th birthday.

Lewis was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in a number of callings, including member of the Montpelier stake presidency, stake Sunday school president and gospel doctrine teacher in the Montpelier First Ward.

Lewis was also active in a number of civic endeavors. He was a member of the board that made arrangements for the first town water system in Georgetown, a member of the hospital board at the time the Bear Lake Memorial Hospital was built, and the representative from Bear Lake County for the 1951 session of the Idaho state House of Representatives.

Lewis married Vea Higginson of Hatch, Idaho, in 1938, in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. She preceded him in death in 1998. He is survived by his sister, Lillian McDonald, of Spanish Fork, Utah; sons, Russell (Debra), of Kensington, Maryland, and Dale (JoAnn), of Mapleton, Utah; daughters, Janel, (Sharon) Dayton of Cokeville, Wyo., Marian (Richard) Yeoman of Dayton, Nev., and Kristin (Bruce) Williams of Salisbury, Md.; 27 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Dec. 3, 2005 in the Montpelier First and Fourth Wards Chapel. Interment was in the Montpelier Cemetery.