We are very saddened to have lost a pillar of Noank, Mary Chrisman Anderson, last month. Although her journey began 1,500 miles away in Minneapolis, her passion for all things Noank has changed our village indefinitely.

Mary was a 1959 graduate of Smith College where she met her husband, Robert “Chip” Palmer Anderson, whose family is as Noank as “Store Hill.” As she wrote in her 50th Reunion biography, “I can hear the disappointment of Miss Dunn, one of my favorite teachers, as I flashed my engagement ring, ‘Chrisman, you’re getting married?’ She often lectured us to have marriage plus a career or vocation. Fortunately, our era had the best of things. We were the first generation to combine both domestic goals as well as interests outside the home… I strove for Miss Dunn’s ‘marriage plus.’”

As a quick summary, Mary taught everything from physical education to art history classes at schools in New Haven and Noank, worked as a docent at the Lyman Allen Art Museum, edited historical reference texts, led architectural tours, and raised funds for many great causes.

Mary was president of the Noank Historical Society board of directors for 15 years. During her tenure, she spearheaded acquisition and restoration of a large mercantile building constructed during the 1840s that is situated next to town dock on Main Street. It had been utilized as a general store originally; later, UConn purchased it for material storage and intern housing for its fish hatchery located where Mystic Oysters now resides. Where most saw a dilapidated mess in need of a wrecker, she saw a local treasure.

As was the case most of the time, Mary never let anyone else’s lack of vision impede hers. She worked tirelessly to raise funds for the herculean undertaking, obtaining two major grants and accolades from organizations throughout the state. She oversaw the bidding, contract, and building phases of the project; in fact, her exhaustive research led to its name, “Latham-Chester Store.” It now hosts historical society meetings, cultural events, lectures, an art gallery, and even small concerts.

A third of the way into her tenure as president, Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. As Chip reports, she continued having meetings about Latham-Chester Store throughout her treatment which led to remission for many years. Many of us didn’t even know Mary had fought valiantly through two more bouts in 2006 and 2012. She never complained- not even this year when it came back and metastasized earlier in 2020. As her health deteriorated and she received hospice care at their home on Latham Lane, Mary was still a bright bouquet of warmth, curiosity, and compassion. She focused on ministering to us instead, as we lost our fellow Old Noank Jail inmate, Kimberley, in January.

We think Mary successfully ‘plussed’ her marriage; in fact, we find the fact that NHS has commemorated the Noank wedding of Amelia Earhart and George Putnam with a placard on Latham-Chester Store to be a fitting expression of Mary’s own pioneering spirit as an empowered woman who would not be overcome by adversity. We will all miss her very much.

Ed Johnson and his daughter Lacy both live in Noank.