ANNE SWANSON Obituary

ANNE BEVERLEY WRIGHT SWANSON Anne Beverley Wright Swanson was born on the Ides of March in a tumultuous year for the U.S. economy into a fractured family, a future Apple Blossom Festival princess in a small town at the head of the Shenandoah Valley. She was blessed with brains and beauty and a cadre of friends who would be lifelong. She attended Mary Washington College after which she married a Midshipman she'd met on a blind date where he'd substituted for an ailing friend. That relationship thrived for the better part of seven decades, four children, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She went about learning the ways and means of marriage and parenting while walking runways for Julius Garfinkle, Lord & Taylor, Thalhimers, Liberty House and others, collaborating within the Trade to improve the working conditions for models, young and otherwise. And she filmed travel commercials for a major carrier, one in which she sank a 20+ foot putt at the Wai'alae CC, twice in a row! She did not play golf. It was not all glamour. She has been immortalized in the memoirs of a former Chief of Naval Operations for a letter she wrote defending her Midshipman from an evil troll who threatened his career. The ensuing victory was pyrrhic however and they suddenly discovered that their lives had been reset and they were about to begin anew, this time in tropical paradise, a fitting reward. Life was good and she threw herself into an alphabet soup of community organizations including HSO, HOT, GCA, HAA, MOW. And modeling. At one point NYC called, offering next-level opportunities, but she chose to stay in The Islands. Her Midshipman in return built her a castle in Kahala where they could live out their lives in quiet comfort. An insidious disease took him too early but she continued on in their new home, well-cared for by a host of beautiful people to whom we wish a warm mahalo. She did not go quietly into the night; her heart fought valiantly to stay. But she lives happily ever after in the hearts and minds of family and friends. Aloha, GrannieAnnie. A celebration of Life ceremony will held at the Episcopal Parish of St. Clement (Makiki) on Thursday, March 21 at 10:00 AM. For those wishing to honor her memory with a donation, please consider St. Jude Chilldren's Research Hospital, one of her favorites!