The Munson Family

Twenty-five years ago, Thurman Munson, the Yankees' catcher and
captain of their 1977 and '78 world championship teams, was
killed when the twin-engine Cessna he was piloting crashed on an
airstrip near his year-old dream house in Canton, Ohio. Ever so
slowly, his wife, Diana, is packing up their home. "I do
everything gradually," she explains, putting items, one by one,
into boxes. "I feel like the time is right to make some moves.
Maybe it's Thurman kicking me in the behind."

Diana, 55, bought a plot of land across town, perfect for the
ranch house with the screened-in porch she's always wanted. Her
three children--Tracy, 34, a Montessori teacher, part-time
student and married mother of three; Kelly, 32, who designs
houses and is married with two kids; and Michael, 28, a former
Yankees farmhand and budding restaurateur--all live nearby.

On Saturdays the clan gathers to eat, swim and talk. Sometimes
they pull out a Thurman bobblehead doll so they feel as if Dad
has joined them. On the living room wall hangs a portrait of
Thurman in his Yankee pinstripes. "It's going to be hard to leave
this house," Diana says, "but I've done a lot harder things."

--Melissa Segura

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN F. GRIESHOP MOVING ON With support from her kids--Tracy (back row, whiteblouse), Michael (center) and Kelly--and five grandkids, Diana (front) is leaving the house Thurman (inset) built.

B/W PHOTO: CO RENTMEESTER