Monica Fadding

PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Monica Charlotte Schultz Fadding, 45, died suddenly Wednesday morning, July 26, 2006, at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

Born July 30, 1960, in Bally, Pa., she was the daughter of Moses Richard and Trudy Bush Schultz. She attended local schools and graduated from Baldwin High School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., with the class of 1978. She went on and earned her bachelor of arts degree from Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vt., in 1985.

Mrs. Fadding moved to Great Barrington in 1993 because her family friend, Bette Moore, recommended her to a friend who was interested in gardens and horticulture. She met her future husband, Marc Fadding, at Windy Hill Farm in Great Barrington, where they both were employed. She did various internships throughout the country, for practical horticulture and propagation with a focus on native plants and restoration.

An active environmentalist, she spent much of her time working on the Great Barrington River Walk Project. In 1994 she played a major part instituting the policy for introducing plants native to the Berkshires for the River Walk. She was the brainchild and landscaper for the River Walk's W.E.B. DuBois Rain Garden, which demonstrates how wetland plants may clean pollutants and sediments from storm water that runs off rooftops and streets.

She was married in 1998 at the Open Air Chapel in West Stockbridge. Together the couple started Marconica, Inc. a local garden maintenance business. Their daughter, Trudy Patricia Fadding, was born in November 2000.

Along with her passion for native plants which she collected and propagated, Mrs. Fadding spent time volunteering at her daughter's school, Kinderhoff, in North Egremont and at the Pleasant Valley Sanctuary in Lenox. She also loved classical music.

Besides her parents, Richard and Trudy Schultz of Barto, Pa., she is survived by her husband and their daughter Trudy at home in Glendale; three brothers, Peter Howard Schultz of New York City, Steven Michael Schultz of Princeton, N.J., and David Moses Schultz of Tokyo, Japan; her mother and father-in-law, Patricia and Russell E. Fadding of Glendale; and her brother-in-law, Steven, of West Stockbridge; and many close friends.

A gathering celebrating her life will be held on Saturday, Aug. 5, at the Open Air Chapel in West Stockbridge at 11 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to an educational fund being set up for her daughter. Until a permanent fund is established, donations may be made to the Trudy Patricia Fadding Scholarship Fund through FINNERTY & STEVENS FUNERAL HOME, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. u