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As received from the Erickson Crowley Peterson Funeral Home:
Julia Speer Munson, of Calumet, died in her home on Thanksgiving Day November 23, 2023 following a 16-year battle with multiple myeloma. The Erickson Crowley Peterson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
She was born Aug. 21, 1942, one of nine children of Frederick Speer, M.D., and Jeannette Hybskmann Speer.
She was raised and attended schools in Kansas City, Kan., graduating from Wyandotte High School in 1960.
She attended Park College in Parkville, Mo., majoring in biology, and worked two summers as a laboratory technician for virus research at Kansas University Medical Center. Later, while living in Iowa City, Ia., she worked as a laboratory technician for allergy research at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
While attending college in 1962, she married Michael Lansdon. They were divorced in 1975 and had four children.
While in Iowa City, she married John Munson on Nov. 7, 1976. Together, they raised a combined family of seven children.
Moving from Iowa to Kansas in 1986 and then to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 1992, Julia worked as a graphic designer with her husband while he was working in college and hospital public relations and producing a variety of publications. In Kansas they also produced their own publication, the Harvey County Gazette.
Throughout much of their 47 years of marriage, they were active in music ministries of churches in which they were members, Julia as a worship leader and John as a pianist.
Since 2012, they have been members of Stts. Peter and Paul Lutheran Church in Houghton, Mich.
In addition to her husband John, survivors include their children David Lansdon, of Denver; Richard Lansdon, of Iowa City; William Lansdon, of Downers Grove, Ill.; Anne Lansdon, of Los Angeles; Timothy Munson, of Seattle; David Munson, of Iowa City; and Susan Munson Prichard, of Denver.
Survivors also include three sisters, Susan Porter, of Bella Vista, Ark., Mary Rogeness, of Longmeadow, Mass., and Clara Speer, of Albuquerque, N.M.; two brothers, Stuart Speer, of Shawnee Mission, Kan., and Mark Speer, of Denver; 13 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Service details will be announced at a later date.
Online condolences for the family may be left at www.ericksoncrowleypeterson.com
