Nora Anthony

1936 - 2021

Nora Brown Anthony died in the early morning of Monday, January 25 at Hartford Hospital. Facing a difficult sequence of medical complications in the last months of her life, she was provided inpatient hospice care, in accord with her wishes. Receiving excellent care, which included allowances for frequent and long visits from her children, she died peacefully in her sleep. Nora was born December 11, 1936 in Omaha, NE, the daughter of the late David Campbell Brown and Virginia Leussler Brown, both professors of English who met at Yale University. After her father's death at age 37 in 1941, Nora and her older sister Sally were raised in Omaha by their mother and maternal grandmother, Helen Bernadette Mahoney Leussler. Nora attended public schools and graduated from Omaha Central High School in 1954. She completed her Bachelor's degree from Smith College in Northampton, MA in 1958. Upon graduating, Nora worked editing scholarly texts for Harvard University Press in Cambridge, MA where she met J. Danford Anthony, Jr. (Dan). They married in Omaha in 1961 and maintained a deep, loving relationship for 51 years until Dan's death in 2012. In her early years of marriage in Saint Paul, MN, Nora worked as an editor for the University of Minnesota Press and completed a Master of English Literature from Creighton University in Omaha, graduating in 1966. Nora was a devoted mother to her three children, Julian, Sarah, and David, and gracefully maintained the family household in West Hartford, CT. She kept up an active role in her community, working on parent teacher associations, volunteering with the League of Women Voters, and serving as President of the Board of The Bridge Family Center, an agency sheltering vulnerable youth in Greater Hartford. She was an Elector of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, an Elector of the Hartford Seminary, and a lifetime member of the Board of Visitors of the Mortenson Library at the University of Hartford. Always a woman of letters, Nora returned to school as her children grew. Attending classes part-time, she worked towards a Master of Divinity, first at the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford and eventually at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, graduating in 1991. She spoke of being pleased to return to the institution that had brought her parents together. Using her new degree, Nora embarked upon a twenty-five-year career providing the pastoral ministry of spiritual direction individually, through the Yale Divinity School, and through the Spiritual Life Center in Bloomfield, CT. Nora was a loyal friend, particularly to the many women in her life. She maintained a lifelong connection with a group of Omaha friends from kindergarten. She participated avidly in a women's book club, winning plaudits from her colleagues for her analyses. She also participated for many years in a women's group, directing conversations on important topics affecting women beyond its membership. After Dan's death, Nora resided at Duncaster in Bloomfield. There she engaged in the community, again participating in a local book group. She maintained an active and supportive role in the lives of her children and grandchildren, and she spoke nearly daily with her oldest and dearest friend, her sister Sally. She leaves behind her three children, Julian D. Anthony III, of West Hartford; Sarah D. Anthony, of West Hartford; and David C. Anthony, his wife Brett Summers, and their children, Nora's beloved grandchildren, Willa, Jasper, and Hazel, of Providence, RI. She is also survived by her sister Sally Troyer and brother-in-law Tom Troyer, of Chevy Chase, MD. Sally's children, Ken, Bob, Ginny, and Kit, were Nora's ties to her own ancestors, just as she was to them a unique family connection to their maternal roots. On Dan's side of the family, Nora is survived by a brother-in-law Cushman D. Anthony (Maureen); a brother-in law, David B. Smith; a sister-in-law, Barbara M. Anthony; and several nieces and nephews, their spouses and children. When the pandemic abates and public health allows for in-person gatherings, a Requiem Mass will be held at the Church of Saint Timothy in West Hartford followed by a private burial in Wellfleet, MA. People wishing to honor Nora's memory are encouraged to make a donation to Smith College, 33 Elm St, Northampton, MA 01063 or Yale Divinity School, 409 Prospect St, New Haven, CT 06511. Please send any personal communications to Julian Anthony, c/o Molloy Funeral Home, 906 Farmington Ave. West Hartford, CT 06119.