Ellen Hunt

Ellen Rockwood Hunt, a vibrant woman filled with a loving spirit and magnetic personality, passed away peacefully in Plymouth Minnesota May 17, 2020 from complications of the Coronavirus.

Ellen was born in Worcester Massachusetts to George I. Rockwood and Anna V. Rockwood on February 26, 1936. She went to the Bancroft grade school through the 9th grade, boarded at Dana Hall high school (graduated 1954) and went on to study at Middlebury College (graduated 1958). The extended family and friends that surrounded her Worcester and summer home in Harwich Port, Massachusetts were foundational influences throughout her life.

Ellen’s energy and positive spirit were admired by many. She was a life-long athlete graced with the balance and a competitive spirit that brother George attributes to their father. Ellen was captain of the field hockey, basketball, and tennis teams at Dana Hall. She was an avid tennis player of some acclaim. She first played tennis at the Worcester Tennis Club that was next to the Bancroft grade school she attended. Later she was the New England Tennis champion as a teen under the tutelage of her beloved coaches Hazel Wightman and Roy Barker. She played tennis through her early fifties, always game to “hit” with up and coming youth players and to play singles and doubles with the many tennis enthusiasts in her community.

Ellen loved the water and was surrounded by it most of her life. She was often at the beach swimming, and in her thirties surfed the big waves on her bright red surfboard at either Horseneck beach in Westport Massachusetts or First Beach (Easton’s) in Newport, Rhode Island. She loved the challenge of it and was constantly trying to master the techniques. Early on she learned to sail and race small boats, like her waterbug “Sea Spray”, with some success in Harwich Port and later in Buzzards Bay regattas and Wednesday night club races.

She lived alongside the Atlantic ocean north of Boston in Marblehead in the early years of her married life where she and her then-husband James H. Hunt lived with young RayC enjoying a tight knit group of friends that revolved around the water and sailing. Later the young family moved to Padanaram Village in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts where both Annie and Beth were born. They lived across the street from Concordia Company and the New Bedford Yacht Club where life alongside Buzzards Bay waters remained central. Weekends were chock full of either summer sails to the Elizabeth Islands or winter ski adventures in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

When Ellen entered any space, she immediately thrust aside the curtains and opened windows to let in light, color and fresh air. She was a spiritual seeker of life’s deep meaning and our place in the cosmos. She learned and later taught Transcendental Meditation to nearly everyone in her immediate community – an expression of her deeply held sense that a closer connection and belonging existed that each of us could access. In her mid-life Ellen lived in Fairfield, Iowa as a devoted follower of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Later she sought the warmth of the sun in Tucson, Arizona and Carlsbad California where she lived for many years overlooking a lagoon on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. There she continued her teaching of meditation and joined in with close friends that led Oneness Meditation.

The family is grateful for the love and support of her friends and the staff at Brookdale Plymouth in Minnesota where she spent her final years. She formed special bonds with many amazing caregivers that helped give sparkle to her days.

Ellen is survived by her three children Ray C. and Laura (Cabot) Hunt, Annie R. Hunt and Elizabeth S. Hunt; her four grandchildren Sarah Hunt, Hannah Hunt, Zachary Langbehn and Dean S. Isaacson; her dear brother George I. Rockwood Jr., his three children and their families; and a wonderfully interwoven extended family.

In honor of Ellen's passion and commitment to spiritual practice, her family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Moyo Institute, Inc. https://bit.ly/CelebratingEllen

Arrangements entrusted to SUMMIT Funeral & Cremation

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