Anita P. Wright

Anita P. Wright Anita Palmer Wright, a resident of San Anselmo for 39 years, died on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 at the age of 83. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 28, 1929, and grew up on the South Shore of Long Island in Sayville, New York, on the Great South Bay. She and her sister and three brothers, the children of Elwell and Marjorie Palmer, were all avid sailors. Her father was a successful land developer during the depression years, naming, among other things, Anita, Nancy and Palmer Drives in Sayville after members of the family. Anita's great grandfather, James W. Elwell, was a prominent figure in Manhattan's bustling shipping business in the mid-to late 1800's, and many fine coastal and NY Pilot Schooners carried his name or that of his company. Anita attended St. Mary's Boarding School for Women in Garden City, NY and then attended Bennington College in Vermont, graduating from Columbia University in New York with a B.S. in English literature. For a brief period after this, she became a Spanish translator at the U.N. in New York. After moving to California in 1957, Anita fell in love with both S.F. and with Allen Wright, whom she married. They settled in San Anselmo with their two children, Jeffrey and Rebecca. Anita was altogether happy and content caring for her beautiful home and antiques, her husband and children, her extensive antique doll and toy collection, her garden and her kitchen where she loved to cook. Julia Child was her proverbial culinary mentor. She is survived by her loving children, Jeffrey of Palm Springs and Rebecca of Mill Valley, her brother, James Elwell Palmer of San Francisco and his wife, Jean Lattner Palmer and many loving nieces and nephews.