Anne Turner Henry

Anne Turner Henry, loving mother, teacher, fierce competitor, lively wit, and enduring inspiration, was born January 6, 1918, in San Francisco, California, and died December 26, just short of her 102nd birthday. She had been a resident of Vi at Grayhawk in Scottsdale since 2001, and had lived in Arizona since 1960. She is survived by her three children—Constance Walley (Craig), of Columbus, Ohio, Christopher Henry (Jan Sloan), of Reno, Nevada, and Mary Henry (Howard Rubin), of New York, New York—five grandchildren, and one great grandson. She is also survived by Elvira Perches, a devoted friend and caregiver in recent years.

As the daughter of Colonel Thomas C. Turner, a pioneering Marine Corps aviator in the early 20th century, and his wife Ethel Hartson, whose grandparents settled in California around 1850, Anne moved often during her early years. She celebrated her second birthday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, lived in California and Virginia, attended school in Switzerland, and graduated from high school at the Holton-Arms School in Washington, D.C. She graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1940. In total, she attended over a dozen different schools.

Anne married Samuel J. Henry, Jr., at the Naval Academy chapel in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1942, and moved with him to the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. During the Second World War, while her husband served as a lieutenant commander in the South Pacific, she lived with her mother in Washington, D.C., where she volunteered for the American Red Cross Motor Corps. After the war, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, then to Rowayton, Connecticut. In 1960, the family, then including their three children, moved to Phoenix, where Anne became involved in many charitable organizations.

As a teenager, Anne had joined the Episcopal Church, and she continued her affiliation throughout her many moves. She was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church in Phoenix, and the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Scottsdale.

In 1966, she began teaching second grade at All Saints Episcopal Day School, where she was beloved by her students and their parents, who wrote letters praising her ability to give each child individual attention. One year, her students urged her to appear as the Statue of Liberty in a school pageant, and she complied with her usual good humor. Many former students returned to visit her for years afterwards. She retired from teaching in 1985.

After her retirement and her husband’s death, Anne was able to spend more time pursuing her lifelong passions of tennis and bridge, often at Paradise Valley Country Club. She also traveled widely with friends. She rafted the Colorado River rapids through the Grand Canyon, rode a camel in Egypt, walked along Hadrian’s Wall in England, and joined a contingent from the Phoenix Zoo that presented two oryxes—endangered Arabian antelopes—to the Kuwait Zoo, which had been almost destroyed during the Gulf War.

Anne was an avid reader both in English and the French she learned at school in Switzerland. She continued to be a formidable bridge player to the end of her life.

A memorial service will be held in the Ocotillo Room at Vi at Grayhawk on Sunday, February 9, at 4 pm. Donations in her memory may be made to Hospice of the Valley and St. Mary’s Food Bank.