Anna 1930–2020: A short biography
Anna was born on 8 August 1930 in Belmont, Massachusetts 18 months after brother Henry (1929–2017). As a child, she attended Belmont Country Day School and then, as a teenager, Concord Academy, and then Smith College, where she studied English and graduated cum laude in 1952.
She moved to Paris in 1952 with a group of her friends where she worked with Theodore White, the historian and author. From Paris she moved to Rome, where in the spring of 1954, she met Robert on the steps of the Trevi Fountain. Three months later they were married in Naples, twice on the same day, once by a US Navy chaplain and once by an Italian official, notifying their parents after rather than before the event.
They moved to England (that autumn) where Robert finished his Mellon Fellowship and began a PhD in Italian history. After living briefly in Cambridge, Anna and Robert moved to Linton, where they had five children in a span of seven years: Andrew, Ferguson, Alison, George and Roger.
After Roger began junior school, Anna started to work as a tutor for the Open University. There she became increasingly interested in students with additional needs, propelling her to qualify as a mental health counsellor.
In 1978, the family moved to Oxford, settling in the house on Hill Top Road that Anna lived in for almost forty years. In Oxford she continued to work as a counsellor, was an integral part of the Hill Top Road community, and was active in local charities and causes, especially the Oxford Parent Infant Project (OXPIP) – a service offering therapeutic help to parents – and the effort to preserve Warneford Meadow.
She had an active social life and a group of friends with whom she meditated, read poetry, and danced.
Over the last six years, her memory gradually declined, first leading her daughter Alison to live with Anna and care for her and then, three years ago, taking her to a beautiful Care Home. There, the staff gave her exceptional care and affection and she was frequently visited by family and friends.
Over the last six months Anna’s health declined more rapidly and she passed away, painlessly, still able to recognize and receive the love of her family in April 2020.
