Anita L. Chouinard, 85, died on Christmas Eve after a long period of failing health. Anita was well known for her extravagant holiday decorating, her meticulously made quilts, her exuberant gardens, and her years of dedicated service to the community, particularly children and disadvantaged people. Anita was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts to Louise (Kreysig) and Bruno Stulgis on May 21, 1936. She lived most of her life in Nashua and Wilton.,
After graduating from Wheelock College in 1957, Anita dedicated the first thirty-five years of her career to teaching, most of it as a first-grade teacher, but later – after completing her Master of Arts in education at Rivier College – as a special education and testing specialist. We cannot begin to count the number of students, both young children and adults, she taught to read. She had a magic touch for teaching reading: she succeeded where others had failed and where students despaired of ever getting the knack. Part of her success derived from her creative mnemonics and clever little sayings, such as “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking”!
Anita’s fabulously decorated first-grade bulletin boards, changed monthly, transitioned to elaborate decoration at home. As a young mother, she thrilled us with beautifully decorated cakes with seasonal or personal themes. Every holiday was greeted with a fresh round of enthusiastic “decking the halls.” At Christmas, she delighted her friends and especially her grandchildren with two Christmas trees, a magical village complete with a train set, and more than three hundred snowmen made of everything from wood to glass to yarn. Even the ceilings were festooned with greenery. Anita had an extraordinary eye for color and pattern, and made a great number of gorgeous quilts. If a seam was not perfectly straight, she would spend hours taking everything apart to make it perfect. Everything had to be just so; she could not abide a crooked picture frame, a single tiny mistake in her knitting, or a wrinkled tablecloth.
Anita loved to entertain and bring joy and community to those around her. She hosted a fabulous Easter-egg hunt annually for seventeen years, and many events related to her community service work. She was a founder of the Wilton After School Program, president of the Lioness Club, co-founder of Wilton/Lyndeborough Teens, Inc., a treasurer of the Friends of the Wilton Library, and served on the board of the Nashua Children’s Home. In retirement, she continued teaching reading to private clients, and found new outlets for her charity work. She knitted about fifty hats for the homeless each year (none with a mistake!).
Anita married Paul M. Bruneau in 1957; after twenty-three years and six children, their marriage ended in divorce. She later married Robert A. Chouinard, who fully indulged her passions and was often seen on a ladder hanging decorations or digging holes in the garden. Anita was very happy with “Pepere” until his death in 2012. She is survived by her children Wendy Bruneau, married to Rick Swanson; Joseph Bruneau; Judith Bruneau; Paula Nickerson; Jonathan Bruneau, married to Ruth Middleton Bruneau; and Todd Bruneau; and nine grandchildren, Elise Faucher; Indigo, Lillie, Oliver and Grace Durnan; Cole and Chase Nickerson; and Henry and Samuel Bruneau.
We want to thank the staff at the Hunt Community for their years of attentive care. In lieu of flowers, we encourage gifts to Marguerite’s Place or the Front Door Agency in Nashua. To leave a message of condolence on line, please visit www.farwellfuneralservice.com. A celebration of life will be held in the spring.
