BATH – Ingeborg Reiser von Huene passed peacefully into Heaven’s welcome on June 19, 2023, with family by her side.

Inge was born Jan. 24, 1930, as the first of four children to Emil Heinrich Reiser and Frieda Elisabeth (Mangold) Reiser, in the shadow of the Speyer Cathedral in Germany. The Rhine River there was her first swimming school.

Her family acquired a stately home in Bad Soden am Taunus, complete with fabled garden and orchard that held off starvation during the war. She and her siblings were allowed to haul a small wagon into nearby woods to collect fallen branches and twigs for fuel.

At war’s end, she took it upon herself to travel by bicycle, often clinging to passing trucks to cover long distances, in search of what had happened to her beloved father. She managed to travel all the way to the information center in France only to learn many months later that he had died in Czechoslovakia. Due to her mother’s illness, Inge, at the age of 15, became the effective head of the lively household. Her family was very musical, and Inge expanded her horizons with violin lessons in Frankfurt until travel became perilous. She enjoyed playing piano, harpsichord, Viola da Gamba, recorder, violin, viola and of course, voice. Inge’s quick mind made her ability to sight read on keyboard appear easy. Studying at the Staedel, she earned a diploma in library science and became a lifelong voracious reader- at an almost incomprehensible speed.

Inge was the only woman in her Gymnasium (upper high school) class. There she met her future husband, Friedrich von Hoyningen-Huene, a displaced student from north of Berlin.

In 1954, after exchanging letters for several years, she emigrated from war-ravaged Frankfurt to the von Huene farm in rural Woolwich to build a life with Friedrich. They were married in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick on Dec. 30, 1954. Her first work in the United States was as librarian’s assistant at Bath’s Patten Free Library.

Twins were born in 1956 during Friedrich’s final mathematics exams at Bowdoin College. Soon they relocated to Boston, Mass. to pursue careers in music and instrument making. Inge’s grace and charm were just what were needed as she and her husband Friedrich were welcomed into and helped energize the early music movement there- being among the first members of the Camerata of The Museum of Fine Arts. Inge made not only countless lifelong friends but also became a key pillar of the early music world hosting members from around the world at the shop and at home while keeping up a great correspondence. She was always a big-hearted person.

All Saints Episcopal Church in Brookline was recommended to the young family for its exceptional music program. Inge sang in its choir for decades.

Three more children were born and the family thrived. Inge would gather all around the piano and go through The Fireside Book of Folk Songs, among others. It was nine years before Inge could first return to Germany to visit her family. Inge and her friend, Claire Jorgensen of Arrowsic, would meet in Kittery to swap children during school vacations. The children would experience the bright winter stars in exchange for the big city lights.

When Friedrich started making instruments under his own name, Inge soon expanded her organizational talents to include business management. Inge’s ability to handle the outside world allowed Friedrich to focus on making recorders and flutes. Inge’s skills included sensing an imperfect situation and outmaneuvering it with grace and charm- culminating in her use of the phrase: “You may be right”.

In 1980, at the suggestion of their dear friend Richard Wood of West Yorkshire, England, Inge and Friedrich founded the Boston Early Music Festival. For years, Inge hosted, fed, and offered cheer to the stars and supporters of early music. She decorated her home with countless paintings of all genres and filled bookcases in every room. The parties were glorious.

Inge enjoyed her many travels to England, Europe, and Japan, and eventually to her small cottage on the Maine coast-far from the telephone.

Inge had a green thumb and enjoyed her outside gardens and in knowing just when to water them and sun them.

The family joked that she would be an American once she had a color TV and a power lawnmower. Inge was proudly accompanied by two harpsichordist friends to her citizenship ceremony: James Nicolson and Howard Schott.

Inge loved her eight grandchildren, bringing all under one roof for grand Thanksgiving feasts and German Christmas spectaculars. All would gather around the piano and sing both sacred and secular works.

She bravely looked after her husband and then sold her beloved home to be able to have them both lovingly cared for by the amazing staff of Hill House Assisted Living in Bath.

Ingeborg is survived by her sister, Hanna (Reiser) Mueller of Calw, Germany; her five children, Andreas R. von Hoyningen-Huene / Kat Mead von Huene with son Balthasar L. of Arrowsic; Patrick S. von Hoyningen-Huene with daughters Mina and Klara of Sudbury, Mass.; Nikolaus C. von Hoyningen-Huene/Susan(Campbell) von Huene with son Markus and daughter Charlotte of Lexington, Mass.; Elisabeth C-M von Hoyningen-Huene/Chris Lannon of Wiscasset; and Thomas A. von Hoyningen-Huene/ Monica (Graves) von Huene with daughters Ella, Carina, and Genvieve of Brookline, Mass.

Inge was predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Friedrich A. von Hoyningen-Huene; and her brothers Manfred E. Reiser and Gustav A. Reiser.

A celebration of life hosted by her family and Day’s Ferry Congregational Church in Woolwich will be held on Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. A private interment will be held at a later date.

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