Wilton, NH – Gretchen Louise Cramer Dunn, 74, passed away peacefully while swimming on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Gretchen, Gretch, Mom, and beloved GiGi, was born in Bowling Green, Ohio, on September 26, 1952, to Richard and Helen (Marsh) Cramer. She met her husband and the love of her life, Randolph Dunn, in the pool at Ohio University, in Athens, where she graduated in 1974. They married on Halloween (Gretchen wore black) and moved to Wilton, New Hampshire that same year, where they built a beautiful life with three children and a loving, large community that Gretchen nurtured with her humor, warmth, her food, and her open door.
A lifelong educator, Gretchen began teaching in Mont Vernon in 1975, and over the next 40 years taught most every grade, though she liked kindergarteners best. Her joy and creativity brought silliness alive, with her Christmas play (“Go Away Yellow Snow!”) and Mrs. One Hundred Days, who floated through classrooms on the 100th day of school in a fur coat with dollar bills trailing out of her pockets. She served on the Wilton School Board for 16 years and supported the building of the new high school and middle school. Generations of children benefited from her swimming lessons, coaching, and lifeguard training in pools and lakes all over the Monadnock region. At the Hampshire Hills Athletic Club in Milford, Gretchen established the first competitive swim program, leading them to multiple state championships.
Gretchen was a devoted daughter, spending Christmases and summers at Popham Beach with her Ohio family, and she brought that same single-minded devotion to her own family. She journeyed to her children whether they lived in France, Arlington, or Belmont, and was the first person to arrive at each grandchild’s birth. Every Sunday was dinner with GiGi, and she’d arrive with the entire meal ready for us in bags, bowls, and jars, already planned and cooked, and a meatloaf frozen for the next meal. When her granddaughter was diagnosed with celiacs disease, Gretchen grumbled, then simply baked more. Birthday cakes, lasagna, and brownies: she made a gluten-free version of each so everyone was included in her love language, food. Gretchen loved traditions: cinnamon rolls at Christmas, waffles on Sunday mornings, egg and bacon sandwiches to-go for school. Strawberries were picked in early summer for jam, apples in the early fall became applesauce and too much apple crisp, warm soups in winter, and homemade chocolate eclairs year round. Whether she was sailing in Maine, walking the beach in Eleuthera, grilling, watching football (Go Browns!), or sitting in front of the fire, she brought an indefatigable energy to every family ritual.
From lost boys and girls, and exchange students who lived with the Dunn family while the kids were in high school, to “her Joan”, Gretchen took people in and cared for them. You’d find her in command at the kitchen island, telling everyone what to do. Or getting the gossip from someone; she knew how to listen while cracking dozens of eggs. During the Camp Dunn years, Gretchen hosted hundreds of her children’s community for weeks at a time. Whether it was babies, toddlers, teenagers, young adults or people who needed a home and shelter from the storm, the door was always open at Fox Howe. Mom, the Pied Piper, would sit us all down to a fall dinner of hot vegetable soup (actually made with lots of meat), warm popovers and pumpkin-raisin cookies.
Gretchen was a whirl of chaos, with melted crayons and dried leaves, and her finger on the fast-forward button of every show. She bought scratch tickets at Christmas to tuck in overstuffed stockings, spoiled us with too many presents, then took all the decorations down the next day. She raised litters of golden retriever puppies that circled the family’s orbit. She never overthought a decision, and baked without recipes. When traveling to the airport, it was understood that a jar of jelly or can of tuna fish might roll out of her bags. The chaos was optimism in motion.
Gretchen touched the lives of so many people whose paths crossed with her long and colorful journey. And for her family, with her watercolor birthday cards, crafts, and recipes, her loving personality permeates every nook and cranny of our homes. She was the engine, and the glue. Gretchen, Mom, and GiGi, will be deeply missed by her husband, Randy, her children, Andrew, Kathryn, and Matthew and their spouses, and her 6 grandchildren, Vivienne, Charles, Theodore, Remi, Sophia, and Georgiana. We wish she were with us every day, and we like to imagine her telling us now, ‘You’re wasting the day!’ and to get back to work.
Whatever you want, I’ll get for you.
How ’bout a buttercup of morning dew
Some magical thoughts to start the day;
A lifting of all, by your gracious hand
Family and friends are warmly welcomed to attend a service at the Unitarian Congregational Society, 597 Isaac Frye Highway, in Wilton, on Saturday, November 14, 2026 at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, please donate in Gretchen’s memory to a children’s education fund of your choice, and bake something to share with your loved ones.
The arrangements are in the care of the Michaud Funeral Home, 32 Maple St., Wilton, NH. To view an online obituary or leave a condolence, please visit our web site at www.michaudfuneralhome.com
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