BRUNSWICK – Cynthia (Birge) Howland, 87, died at home in Brunswick with her family at her side on Sunday, March 24, 2024.

She was born in New York City, N.Y. on Dec. 29, 1936, to John Birge and Eleanor Winter Birge. Raised in New Canaan, Conn., she attended The Putney School in Vermont, where she thrived in the progressive community and learning-by-doing ethos. At Smith College she studied art history, and took a monumental junior year abroad in Madrid, where she learned an elegant Castilian Spanish, went to museums, pierced her ears for pearls, and got in hot water with the Smith housemothers for riding a Vespa.

After graduating from college in 1958, she worked for Polaroid in Cambridge, Mass., where she met her future husband John LaFollette Howland, a graduate student at Harvard University. They were married on June 11, 1961, in Quincy, Mass., and that same week got on a boat for the Netherlands for John’s post-doc work at the University of Amsterdam.

They returned in 1963, with a Newfoundland dog in tow, because John accepted a position at Bowdoin College in the Biology Department, and soon welcomed their son, Ethan, into the family. After Hannah arrived, the family moved to Harpswell in 1969, where Cynthia raised her children, and cared for her ever evolving pack of cats and dogs. Summers were spent in East Orleans on Cape Cod at her mother’s cottage, and later, on Islesboro, where Cynthia and John enjoyed another slice of the Maine coast. They spent sabbatical years in Ithaca, New York, and Cambridge, England.

Cynthia was a lifelong Christian Scientist, and began studies to become a Christian Science Practitioner soon after moving to Brunswick. She wrote and delivered many talks on spiritual topics across the country and in South Africa, and continued her practice until her death. She was a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Brunswick.

Cynthia was creative and appreciated fine art, music, and design. She wove on a treadle loom, knit sweaters from Irish and Scandinavian patterns, created warm family spaces, baked bread, and gathered friends and family around thoughtful dinner tables, with carefully selected flavors and always music in the background. Her travels were inspired by art, and took her throughout Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Central America, and the U.S Southwest. Notable trips were to Istanbul to visit cousins, bird watching in Namibia, and a solo journey through Bhutan just after the death of her husband. She went to The Soviet Union, Iran, Japan, India, Uzbekistan and more, to explore museums, sacred spaces, caves, and gardens. She was deeply appreciative of the DaPonte String Quartet, and supported their programming until her death. Her life was woven together with an abundance of friendships from each chapter of her life.

Predeceased by her husband John, in 2009, Cynthia is survived by her sister, Priscilla; her children, Ethan and Hannah, their spouses, Daphne and Bruce; and five beloved grandchildren, Turner, Esmé, Phoebe, Gemma and Elspeth. She also leaves an extended family of friends.

There will be a memorial service at the Bowdoin College Chapel.

Donations in her memory can be made to the DaPonte String Quartet.

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