Anna Jane Wingfield

Anna Jane Fortenberry Wingfield passed away in the early morning of Saturday, September 14th, 2024, under hospice care in Austin, TX, with her daughter at her bedside. She was a few weeks shy of her 97th birthday.

Born in Houston on October 7, 1927, Anna was the daughter of Edith Hargis and Kirby Carl Fortenberry and the great niece of Houston businessman John Henry Kirby. After her mother died unexpectedly when she was three, Anna was raised by her father and by her beloved Grandmother Amanda Jane and Aunts Bessie, Maud and Faymie, and grew up supported by the companionship of her cousin, the artist Carden Bailey.

She graduated from San Jacinto High School in 1944 and attended the University of Houston, which she left to accept a position writing promos at a local radio station. She was subsequently hired as a copywriter at the advertising agency of John Paul Goodwin, which was later named Goodwin & Dannenbaum. In the mid-1950s, she became a principal in the firm, notable for a woman at the time, and the agency was renamed Goodwin, Dannenbaum, Littman & Wingfield. Throughout her 31 year tenure at the agency, she served in the roles of Account Supervisor, Creative Director and Senior Vice President until her retirement in 1992.

During her career, Anna mentored and served as a role model for countless young advertising professionals. Unconventional in the industry, she both managed accounts and did the creative work for them. She wrote copy and created campaigns for Fannin Bank, Hotel America, The Houston Post, and the Interfin Companies, among many other clients. In 1972, she oversaw the political campaign of William P. Hobby Jr. in his inaugural bid to become Lieutenant Governor of Texas. He won in a landslide.

Gracious yet assured in an industry in which aggressiveness was often rewarded, she was known for her elegant ad copy, classic fashion sense and devoted client roster.

In 1957, she married architect Burnley Magruder Wingfield Jr., and they had two children, Garth and Amanda. When Magruder passed away in 1992 after 35 years of marriage, Anna began a surprising second act. Though a lifelong fear of flying prevented air travel, she gradually created a whole new life for herself in East Hampton, New York, widening her circle of friends. For almost three decades, she divided her time between Houston and Long Island, making the trek back and forth by car.

A voracious reader who pored through Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time" in its entirety during retirement, she also spent her later years studying at the Jung Center in Houston, taking classes at Rice University and watching a movie most nights before bed.

Reliably kind and warm, making friends wherever she went, she had a deep appreciation of the ridiculous and was as quick to a good laugh as she was to an intimate spiritual conversation with someone she loved. We’ll miss you, Annabanana, and we're blessed to have been touched by your love.

Anna is survived by her son, Garth Wingfield (Peter Manning), of Alexandria, VA; her daughter, Amanda Wingfield, of Austin; and her granddaughter, Carden Arellano, of London. She was preceded in death by her parents, Edith and Kirby; by her husband, Magruder; and by her brothers from her father's second marriage, Kirby Fortenberry and Clyde Fortenberry.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation be made in her honor to Lord of The Streets Episcopal Church, Southern Poverty Law Center or the charity of your choice. A memorial service is to be held at 1pm on Monday, October 7 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 1015 Holman at Main, Houston.