Lumemora

In loving memory

Eleanor Munster

12. April 1938 — 3. September 2021

Bristol, United Kingdom · Bristol, United Kingdom

Beloved mother, grandmother, and lifelong gardener who taught three generations to love the outdoors.

Portrait of Eleanor Munster

Life story

A Life Rooted in Kindness

Eleanor spent forty years teaching primary school in Bristol and an equal number of years tending the garden that became her second classroom.

Eleanor Margaret Munster was born in Bristol in 1938, the second of four children. She trained as a teacher at Bristol Teacher Training College and spent nearly four decades at St. Augustine's Primary School, where generations of children learned to read in her classroom.

She met Robert Munster at a church fundraiser in 1963; they married two years later and raised three children together in the same house on Cedar Lane where Eleanor lived for the rest of her life.

Retirement in 2000 only gave her more time for the garden she'd been building since the 1970s — roses along the back fence, vegetables in raised beds, and a greenhouse Robert built for her sixtieth birthday. Neighbourhood children still remember being given tomatoes over the fence.

Eleanor is remembered for her patience, her fierce love of her family, and a laugh that could be heard two gardens over.

Timeline

  1. 12 April 1938

    Born in Bristol

    Bristol, United Kingdom

  2. 1959

    Qualified as a teacher

    Bristol Teacher Training College

    Completed her teacher training and began looking for her first classroom.

  3. 1960

    Began teaching at St. Augustine's Primary School

    Bristol, United Kingdom

  4. 12 June 1965

    Married Robert Munster

    Bristol, United Kingdom

  5. 2000

    Retired after 40 years of teaching

Visitor messages

  • Susan Munster · DaughterSeptember 3, 2026

    Mum, not a day goes by that I don't think of you. Thank you for teaching us to be kind.

  • James Munster · GrandchildSeptember 3, 2026

    Grandma's garden was my favourite place in the whole world. I still smell roses and think of her.

  • Margaret Ellis · FriendSeptember 3, 2026

    Eleanor was the kindest woman I ever knew. We shared thirty years of tea and gossip over the garden fence.

  • David Cole · Former studentSeptember 3, 2026

    Mrs. Munster taught me to read when I struggled more than anyone else in the class. I owe her so much.

View all 10 messages

Leave a message

All fields are required.

Messages are reviewed before they appear publicly.

Family

  • Eleanor Munster

    Eleanor Munster

    In loving memory

  • Robert Munster

    SPOUSE

  • Susan Munster

    CHILD

Shared memories

  • The Best Reading Teacher

    Margaret Munster · Former student

    I was seven and I couldn't read a word without getting frustrated and giving up. Most of the class had moved on to proper books and I was still stuck sounding out three-letter words, convinced I was just bad at it.

    Mrs. Munster never once made me feel behind. She'd pull her chair up next to mine during quiet reading time, pick a book about dinosaurs because she knew I loved them, and we'd just go slowly, word by word, for as long as it took. By the end of that year I was reading on my own. I became a teacher myself eventually, and I still think about her patience every time a struggling student sits down at my desk.

  • Sunday Roast at Cedar Lane

    Margaret Munster · Daughter

    Every Sunday for as long as I can remember, the whole family gathered around Mum's table at Cedar Lane. She'd be up at seven picking whatever was ready in the garden — runner beans, new potatoes, a bowl of raspberries if we were lucky — and by one o'clock the kitchen smelled like nowhere else in the world.

    She never sat down until everyone else had a full plate, and even then she'd be back up twice more "just to check on the pudding." My children grew up thinking Sunday lunch was supposed to take four hours and involve at least one argument about whose turn it was to do the washing up. I'd give anything for one more of those afternoons.

Browse all memories

Leave a tribute

3 candles · 14 flowers

Light a candle

Leave a flower

Flower

17 tributes left here

Show all 17

  • The Bennett familyleft orchid

    With deepest sympathy and love.

  • A St. Augustine's colleagueleft carnation

    A life so beautifully lived.

  • Helen B.left tulip

    Forever in our hearts.

  • Claire M.left red rose

    Thinking of you today and always.

  • Nora K.left white lily

    In loving memory, always.

Remembered on Lumemora