Anne Gouverneur Simonds Wesson

Middlebury, VT Anne Gouverneur Simonds Wesson, 84, died Sunday morning March 2, 2014 at the Lodge at Otter Creek where she lived for five years. She passed away peacefully and was surrounded by her four children. Anne, daughter of Frederick William Simonds and Mary Ethel Sanger Simonds, was born in New York City on July 21,1929 and grew up in Hewlett, NY and Brattleboro, VT. She graduated from the Windsor Mountain School in Manchester, VT and the Brimmer and May School in Boston, and then went on to earn a BA in History of Art at Bryn Mawr College, class of 1951. With an insatiable appetite for learning, she continued studying a variety of subjects at many schools, including the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in Manhattan, the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, NH, the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Travel Program overseas, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at Middlebury College. Anne married Bill Wesson in 1953. The newlyweds took a two year postwar assignment in Frankfurt, Germany where their first child was born. Upon their return to the United States in the mid-1950's, they settled in Mantoloking, NJ, where they raised their four children in the not-yet-popular tradition of natural foods and no television. Anne enjoyed regular visits to New York City, where she was an active member of the National Arts Club. She was also a lifetime member of the National Society of the Colonial Dames, the Huguenot Society of America, and the Mantoloking Yacht Club. In 1983, Anne moved to Peterborough, NH, where she devoted her time to writing poetry, reading, painting, attending two local book groups, and hosting family reunions. She was a devoted communicant of All Saints' Church, and volunteered regularly at its Serendipity Thrift Shop. Anne's last years at the Lodge were enriched by the exquisite care and attention she received from her caregivers from Vermont, Thailand, Bosnia, and Ghana. She learned how to greet each one of them in their native languages. Anne will be greatly missed by all who knew her. She will be remembered as a woman of grace, poise, and generosity, and most of all, for her sweet nature and kindness. Anne was predeceased by her former husband William Randolph Wesson and her sister Charlotte Kemble Simonds Greenewalt. She is survived by her beloved sister Ethel Dodge Simonds Bowditch and her husband Patrick F. Bowditch of Essex, CT; her four children, Emily Wesson and her husband Peter Millard of Belfast, ME, Cynthia Wesson of Addison, VT, Sarah Wesson and her husband Richard Klein of Ripton, VT, and John Wesson and his partner Philip Salemi of Mantoloking, NJ; her grandchildren Schuyler Klein, Andrew Millard, Maria Millard, and Cameron Millard; and her great-grandchild Noah Millard. The funeral service will be celebrated at All Saints' Episcopal Church, 51 Concord St., Peterborough, NH, on Saturday, March 8th at 2 pm, followed by internment at Pine Hill Cemetery. A memorial service will be held this summer at St. Simon-by-the-Sea in Mantoloking, NJ on a day to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to All Saints' Church, Peterborough, and St. Simon-by-the-Sea, Mantoloking. Jellison Funeral Home and Cremation Services is assisting the family with arrangements. To view an online obituary or leave the family a condolence, please visit www.jellisonfuneralhome.com

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