Andrew "Andy" B Munthe

On Oct. 24, 2022, the trombone section of the Greatest Big Band in Heaven, opened its arms to welcome a new member.  Andy passed away after a long fight with Vascular Dementia.  He is now at peace.  He is preceded in death by his parents, Viola and Bert Munthe.  He is survived by his wife, Ann; daughter, Heidi (Doug) and their children, twins, Noah and Jack, and daughter, Elle.

Andy was born in Logan, Ohio, but grew up on Lake Mendota where he boated, swam, and collected Indian Arrowheads along the beach.  He loved Lake Mendota to the very end.

Classically trained with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, his heart and soul were big band music and specifically to be able to play with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. Andy married Ann Brown in 1964 and in 1966 the offer came to play with Stan.  We were young and fancy free and headed for California.  For two years he played and toured with Stan, played locally, did studio work, and backed up Johnny Mathis for two tours.  On the last tour with Stan, he injured his lip and had to have surgery.  Unfortunately, he was never able to play again.  He changed careers, working as a designer for Litton Industries and freelancing.  We stayed in California for six more years as it was a fun place to live then.

In 1974 we decided we wanted to come back to the Midwest and 3M Company moved us back to the Twin Cities.  He worked as an electromechanical engineering designer at 3M until 1996 and had 11 patents at 3M.  We took an offer of an early retirement then, and headed to Northern Minnesota.  We had canoed the Boundary Waters and Ontario for years, and found 105 acres of Wilderness Forest where we had a home built for us.  Our visitors were black bear on the front porch and the wolves in the back open field.  We stayed there until 2020 when we decided it was time to come full circle and move back to Madison. We have had a little over two years back where we began and it has been wonderful.  We are in grief and disbelief having lost Andy.  He was such a talented, successful, loving, caring, giving husband, Daddy, and Papa.

A funeral service will be held at Evangelical Lutheran Church, 315 E. Main St., Mount Horeb, at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, with Pastor John Twiton presiding. Visitation will be held at the church from 12 noon until the time of the service on Sunday.

When we had our home built in the wilderness, we would sit beneath a cedar tree for breaks and lunches and we named it our “Journey” tree.  On Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, Andy will be buried beneath a cedar tree in the Mount Horeb Union Cemetery as he begins his next “Journey,” listening to his alumni of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps play “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Memorials may be made in Andy’s name to the Alzheimer’s Association. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson Camacho Mount Horeb

Funeral & Cremation Care

500 N. Eighth St.

(608) 437- 5077