Anita Kathryn Anderson

Red Lodge was a mining town, where her father worked as a supervisor, and her grandfather was superintendent. She was an only child. Her mother was 100% Italian and her father was Irish and Welsh.

Anita moved to Seattle Washington in 1927 at the age of 4 with her mother after her parents divorced. She saw her father intermittently after that. Being the daughter of a single working mother, she was a latch key kid, having to get herself to and from school while her mother was at work. Anita had many a harrowing story about these times. She lived much of her early life on First Hill or Capitol Hill, then briefly in North Seattle and Seward Park areas. She attended school at the Saint James Cathedral, attended Broadway High school then graduated from Roosevelt High School. She attended business school, then a year at Seattle University.

During WWII Anita volunteered at the Seattle Catholic USO. She had many stories about growing up during the Depression and WWII era in Seattle when there were street cars and the tallest building was the Smith Tower.

Anita initially worked in Banking – first at Bank of America in Los Angeles California while staying with her father’s sister, Aunt Kay, in Santa Monica for a time, then Seattle Trust and Savings Bank in Seattle. An old high school friend recruited her to the Collections department of the IRS and she became a tax examiner. She was sharp and intuitive.

While Anita was working in the collections department she came across a taxpayer who was delinquent on their taxes and very hard to reach – never at home. As she looked at the address, knowing the area on First Hill well, she knew there was a local watering hole just around the corner from the apartment building this taxpayer lived in. So, she thought, maybe he spends his free time there and that is why we cannot reach him. She took a chance and called the bar. The bartender called out for the fellow “Some woman’s on the phone for you!” And so this taxpayer was finally tracked down.

Anita met her future husband Allan E. Anderson through the IRS. They married on July 22.1963, and Sandi was born the following year.

Anita truly loved being a mother and took her role very seriously. She was a full time stay at home Mom until Sandi was in high school. Initially they lived in a house that Allan built in the Lake City area, but the house was built on a hillside with a steep driveway and very little usable yard so not suitable for a young family.

Legend has it that Anita slipped and fell once on that driveway with Sandi in her arms, and her bundle of joy rolled down the driveway. The impetus to move became clear and strong after that.

In 1965 they moved to Bellevue, which Allan initially referred to as the “toolies”, as at that time, the Richards Road (now Factoria) exit was the only, the Sunset Drive-in Movie Theatre and Horatio’s Exxon except for the woods. They initially bought a rambler on Coal Lane off Newport Way, then 3 houses in Somerset. Why 3 houses in the same neighborhood, you might ask? That happened as they tried to balance a quest for a view, a rec room big enough for a Allan’s pool table, a garage big enough for a his 16 foot boat and 2 full size cars, with a house that pleased Anita's aesthetic tastes. The last house finally met all the criteria, and they lived there from 1977 to 2000.

When Anita's mother Felicia passed in 2000, she and Allan remodeled and moved into the house Felicia and Ralph built on Mercer Island. Allan used to sit on the back porch, look out at the view and say “Felicia and Ralph sure picked a good spot.”

Anita very much loved being a mother. She volunteered in the classroom and as a chaperone on school outings. Anita was instrumental in getting Sandi into Forest Ridge, a Sacred Heart School, starting in 5th grade, which gave her the gift of an excellent education and helped foster strong values. Anita's return to work in Sandi's teens was to ensure that she would be able to graduate from Forest Ridge.

Anita was very involved in her church. Her beliefs and spirituality were very important to her and had been a source of great comfort and strength for her during very tough times in her life. When they moved to Bellevue, she attended St Louise Parish initially, then was one of the founding members of St Madeliene Sophie, attending services in the Tyee Jr High school gym before the new church was built. Anita was a very active parishioner at St Madeliene Sophie, participating in many volunteer activities including as a Eucharistic Minister bringing communion to the ill or homebound. When she got her inheritance from her mother, she was able to make a sizable donation to St Madeliene Sophie for their new school. Anita was a parishioner there until 2000 when she moved to Mercer Island and started attending St Monica’s. After her move to Issaquah, she frequented St Joseph or St Louise for mass. Being able to go to mass or having communion was very important to her. She prayed the Rosary often and always had one in her pocket or purse.

Anita loved to create beautiful surroundings with furnishings and art. Her love of interior decoration led to many decorating changes in our home. She was also very fashionable and loved shopping.

Anita loved to travel. Her travel adventures started when Allan took a 6 mo assignment in Jamaica with a friend of his from the IRS, Herman, who was on a 2 year assignment there with his wife Frances. The family drove from Seattle to Florida in their new 1971 Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon, then flew to Jamaica. Anita saw her father when the family arrived in Florida on that trip. He was dying of pancreatic cancer, and that would be her last visit with him.

Jamaica was an experience. The family lived in an apartment complex with many ex-pats. They had a driver named Mr. Salmon who would drive Allan to work, then come back to take Anita and Sandi shopping or to visit Frances who lived in a penthouse at the Skyline Hotel. They traveled across the island to see all the usual tourist sites and also some more unusual sites including a trip to the US medical student staffed free clinic when Sandi split chin open on the side of the pool. Anita's experiences in Jamaica whet her appetite for international travel.

Her next big adventure was planning a 28-day, 12-country trip to England and Europe in 1973. This was way before the internet, so she spent hours reading books, train time tables, calling hotels etc to plan. Highlights of that trip were going to Lourdes and bathing in the stream, going to Rome and having an audience with the Pope, and being able to visit distant Italian cousins. They were also able to visit Bergen, the town closest to where Allan’s relatives were from in Norway. After that it seems Anita went on one big international trip each year until the early 2000’s. In addition she often went on a destination ski trip with the “ski gang” a group of couples and friends, annually. Pam and Sandi took her on a trip annually after that, often a more relaxing destination such as to Mexico, California or Hawaii. Their last trip was just before the pandemic started in January of 2020.

Anita enjoyed golfing into her 90’s. She wanted to play. She was not happy just riding along in the cart.

Anita also enjoyed cooking and was very interested in nutrition. She avoided prepared foods, additives, artificial sweeteners and deep fried foods, using herbs to season and using only limited salt. Also always balancing a leaner protein with lots of whole grains, veggies and fruit. Anita did however have a sweet tooth and chocolate was her favorite vice, Peanut M&M’s and Butterfinger bars being among her favorites. She also enjoyed an occasional cocktail and loved her “bubbly” be it champagne or prosecco. Anita is famous in the family for saying “Bubbly makes any occasion feel like a party.” She had a good sense of humor, enjoyed comedies, and also liked to tell her little jokes.

Anita loved music, enjoyed singing and watching musicals. She was an understudy and once got called up to fill in for a lead in a production at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.

Family was very important to her. There were many a family gathering with local family members. Those days were jokingly referred to as “family days of obligation”. As her mother aged, she stayed in close contact, calling her mother daily to check in. A tradition she and Sandi continued, talking at least once daily.

Anita very much enjoyed her house on Mercer Island with a view and was reticent to leave it despite some of the challenges of aging. Eventually she moved into Aegis in Issaquah where she lived for 5 years until her passing. She passed away January 30, 2025, the day after her 102nd birthday, at Aegis of Issaquah with the care of hospice after a short hospitalization. The family are very grateful for the kind, compassionate care of the Aegis and Hospice teams.

Anita was preceded in death by her mother Felicia E Morris, step father Ralph Morris, father Charles V Davis and his wife Helene Davis, her husband of 48 years Allan E Anderson, as well as many of her cousins and friends. She is survived by her daughter Sandi J. Anderson MD and her wife Pamela R. Heeke, as well as their extended family.

Anita was a very vibrant, energetic, strong, kind, generous, and loving person. She had a passion for life, a well developed sense of humor, and lived life to the fullest in her 102 years. She was also a woman of strong faith. Anita is well loved and will be greatly missed.