Dana Munger Kessler

Dana Munger Kessler, 74, died peacefully with her family around her on October 31, 2021.  Dana was born on January 13, 1947 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Dotha Post Davis Munger and Herbert Edwin Munger, Jr. The family settled in Traer, Iowa to start a business a couple of years later. Her surviving siblings were born there over the next several years, Judy Elaine Christensen (Chris), David Herbert Munger (Marta) and Brian George Munger (Kathy) and all have fond childhood memories of backyard badminton, softball, croquet, golf at our local course and inventive games with Dana. She graduated from North Tama High School in Traer in 1965. Dana went on to attend Iowa State University from 1965-1967. She then  transferred to Colorado State University from 1967-1969 where she received her B.S. degree in Occupational Therapy (OT). She served her OT internship in the U.S. Army Medical Specialist Corps in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston. Dana served two additional years at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. in the psychiatric OT department. She continued her focus on the mental health field for several years. In 1976 she received her M.S. in social work from University of Tennessee in Nashville, Tennessee. Her rewarding social work career spanned the next 30 years until retirement from Connecticut Community Care. Along the way she met and married her surviving husband Joseph (Jay) Kessler in Tampa, Florida; moved to Jackson, Mississippi; and finally settled in Lebanon, Connecticut for over 35 years. She is also survived by her stepdaughter Barbara Kessler and grandchildren, Sam Zonay and Nora Zonay, a nephew and two nieces and their children and multiple cousins. Dana is preceded in death by her parents, Bert and Dotha Munger and her Austrian foreign exchange sister, Brigitte Hell Kravanja.

Throughout her life, Dana was a gifted painter, with many of her works on display in her families’ homes. Dana dug deeply into family genealogy where she traced family back to the Mayflower and 1400’s England. Dana became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution as a result of her research. She loved to travel and frequently combined that with her genealogy research. Dana very actively served in multiple roles with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Windham, CT. She loved playing golf, gardening, her dogs over the years and enjoyed watching the birds at their feeders, often painting them. Dana is deeply cherished by her family and will be sorely missed by her immediate family as well as multiple cousins and their families. We will especially miss her unique giggle. A memorial is being planned for late spring. Donations may be made to Dana’s hospice care, Hartfordhealthcareathome.org.