Anne Simpson

Focused on saying “Thank you” all her life, (Louise) Anne Pagenstecher Simpson was born on August 28, 1940 at the original Seton Hospital in Austin, Texas.  Eldest daughter of Charles Francis Alexander and Adelyn (Herman) Pagenstecher, she had two sisters, Ellen (Lewis) and Mari (Rabinowitz).

Growing up in McAllen, Texas, she attended public schools. In high school, faculty selected her to participate in the American Field Service program and she was sent to Sweden where she had a “dream” experience there.  In her senior year, she was elected by the student body to be the Lady of the Mirror, the highest honor for a senior girl. 

After her happy experience in Sweden, Anne wanted to repeat her living abroad experience and chose and was accepted at Randolph-Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she was elected president of the Sophomore Class, was selected to go on the Sweet Briar Junior Year Abroad program to study at the Sorbonne in France, and, in her senior year was chosen president of her Kappa Alpha Theta sorority chapter. 

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, she was hired at Harvard University’s Widener Library as an intern, whereupon she worked at the library, was admitted to Simmons College School of Library Science, got her MS, and was appointed an officer of the University at Harvard.  While at library school, she authored an extensive bibliography on Martin Luther King which was published in the Bulletin of Bibliographies in 1966, a copy of which is housed at the King Library and Archives in Atlanta.

Subsequent to Widener, she was invited to be a librarian for NASA at Cape Canaveral, Florida, but chose to go to Morgan Guaranty Trust in Manhattan, New York, where she was appointed Head Librarian.

Married to James William Simpson in 1967, the marriage ended in 1980.

In Riverside, Connecticut, Anne was devoted to raising her four children, Garret, Amy, Cort, and Brett. She also became an active civic volunteer and was a long-time member of the Junior League of Greenwich, the Bruce Museum Board of Trustees, the Friends of the Greenwich Library Board, the Greenwich Historical Society Board of Trustees, the PTA Board for her children’s schools, the Riverside Association Board, the Riverside Garden Club, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, and the Republican Town Committee.  For a number of years, she also served on the Greenwich Board of Education and as a Justice of the Peace.

In 1999, she began to live half-year in Austin, Texas, where she continued civic volunteer work at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Loaves and Fishes Outreach Program at All Saints' Episcopal Church, and Mathews Elementary School, where she was selected Volunteer of the Year and a member of the Mathews Elementary Friends for Excellence Endowment and Scholarship Fund.

Proud and grateful mother of Garret Pagenstecher Simpson Olberding, PhD (husband to Amy), Amy Pagenstecher Simpson Daly, MBA (wife to Will), Cort Pagenstecher Simpson, MBA (husband to Alexis), and Brett Pagenstecher Simpson, MD, she recognized how greatly she was blessed.

She is survived by her sisters, her children, and her six grandchildren, Adelein, Owen, Max, Isabella, Alexandria, and Maryanna. Many more love her and will miss her.

Her remains will be interred at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Riverside, Connecticut, following a service held at 11 a.m. on January 13, 2024. 

Donations can be made in Anne Pagenstecher Simpson’s memory to any of the following organizations she faithfully supported:

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (Riverside, CT)

All Saints' Episcopal Church, Loaves and Fishes (Austin, TX)

WNPR Connecticut Public Radio

KUT Radio Austin

Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Austin, TX)

Mathews Elementary School (Austin, TX)

Habitat For Humanity

Food for the Hungry