Anne V. Larson

Anne Virginia Donovan Larson, age 81, of Taylorstown, Virginia, died on January 30, 2026, in Winchester, Virginia, of a sudden heart attack.

Anne was born at Georgetown Hospital in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 1944, and grew up in Falls Church, Virginia. She was the daughter of John A. K. Donovan, a Virginia state senator in the 1950s, and Mary McCarthy Donovan. Though she did not speak until the age of four due to dyslexia, she grew into a keen observer of the world, developing early independence of mind. As a student at Bishop O'Connell High School, she played on the girls' basketball team at a time when opportunities for young women were sharply limited; she was barred from taking science classes because of her gender. After graduating in 1962, she briefly studied nursing at Georgetown University before turning decisively toward art, later studying under the modernist painter Pietro Lazzari at the Corcoran School of Art. She married Blaine Gledhill Larson, also a painter, in 1967. Together they operated an art school for a few years in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC.

Anne built her life around making and sustaining art, family, and community. While raising her young children, she worked as a goat farmer/artist, integrating daily labor with creative practice. For more than thirty years, she framed artwork for fellow artists at her Taylorstown frame shop, where people often stayed to talk. Those who knew her well recognized her particular gift for solving practical problems with ingenuity.

Her home, "Little Alps", on Furnace Mountain became a homestead and gathering place for artists, musicians, writers, and scientists. There, Anne fed many people, especially her children's friends, hungry teenagers, offering food, intellectual sustenance, and a place to sleep. For seventeen years, she volunteered building and painting theatrical sets and props at Loudoun Valley High School, working alongside drama teacher Cliff Thompson and volunteer costume designer Mary Alice Coussoulos. She received the Loudoun History Award in 2009 for her preservation work focused on the rural and river landscapes of northern Loudoun County, particularly around Taylorstown, Waterford, and Lovettsville. She played a long-standing role in protecting Catoctin Creek, helping to revive the Catoctin Creek Scenic River Advisory Committee and monitoring land-use changes along the creek corridor. She was an advocate for preserving historic sites in the area, including the John G. Lewis Memorial Bridge near Lovettsville, and she led the installation of the Taylorstown historic marker. In the 1970s, Anne was active in the Don't Dam Taylorstown movement, working to prevent the town from becoming a reservoir for Fairfax County. She later published a book for Friends of Catoctin Creek by John G. Lewis, Ladies, Liquor & Laughter: Mischief of an Architectural Historian, 1930s-70s Loudoun County, Virginia. She also took pleasure in years of playing music with a dulcimer group and playing the washboard with anyone who would let her.

In her later work, Anne devoted herself with intensity to painting octopuses, returning to the subject again and again over more than a decade. After meeting the painter Jules Olitski at an exhibition in Washington, D.C., she felt newly energized to work with greater urgency and conviction. She and her husband shared a formalist philosophy centered on what they called "keeping the surface alive." For Anne, art was not separate from life. "Artists make the best of their mistakes," she often said.

At Hilltop Assisted Living where Anne resided for the past few years, she was known as a domino champ and artist in residence where she was consulted on all things artistic. Although wheelchair bound, her presence there was larger than life right up until her last breath.

Raised Catholic, Anne remained essentially Catholic throughout her life, while also embracing Taoist ideas that resonated with her sense of flow. She was experienced by others as witty, social, and deeply funny, a person who loved generously and was, in turn, widely loved. She and Blaine took great joy in caring for their grandchildren.

Anne is survived by her children Peter Larson (Kristi), Ben Larson, and Mora Larson da Silva (Tom); her stepdaughter Candelyn McCall (Scott) and their children; her stepson Kai Larson (Dorothy) and their children; her grandchildren Olivia, Ambrose, Arianna, Ivy, Jack, Emilia, and Sam; and her sister, Mary Margaret Mulhern (John) and their children. She was predeceased by her husband, Blaine Gledhill Larson, and her parents, John A. K. Donovan and Mary McCarthy Donovan.

She donated her body to science, to the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Memorial service will be at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, Purcellville, Virginia, March 7, at 11 am with reception afterwards at Knights Hall.

Anne Larson's life was art, made daily, shared freely, and lived with intelligence, humor, and care. She will be deeply missed.

Anne V. (nee Donovan) Larson