Gretchen Anex

Gretchen Fleming Anex, 89, passed away Saturday March 22, 2025 in Seattle, Washington.
Gretchen Fleming was born to Roland and Marie (Wanamaker) Fleming on August 23, 1935 in Niagara Falls, NY. Her earliest years were spent in Youngstown, NY. Her family moved to Niagara Falls when the gasoline and rubber shortages of World War 2 limited commuting. Her mother founded and operated The Book Corner, an independent bookstore, which is still in operation. Her father, a banker, was an avid community theater actor and golfer. Gretchen was an excellent student and participated in student government throughout high school. She graduated from Mt Holyoke College in1957 and continued on to earn her master's degree the following year. While she was working towards her doctorate in chemistry at the University of Washington, she met her husband, Basil Gideon Anex. They married in Seattle in 1959. Soon thereafter, Basil began postdoctoral studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, where their son, Deon Anex was born. The family moved to New Haven, CT where Basil and Gretchen welcomed their daughter, Liese Anex in 1961. They next moved their growing family to Las Cruces, NM where Dr. Anex served as Department Chair at New Mexico State University and where their youngest daughter Robin Anex was born. The family's move to Louisiana for Basil to teach at the University of New Orleans rounded out his career until his retirement in 1995. Basil and Gretchen returned to the Pacific Northwest for retirement where they often dined out, enjoyed desserts, and gardened together until his death in 2019.
Gretchen, whom friends called Gef, was known for her sharp intellect, dry wit, and tireless involvement in community affairs It was important to both Basil and Gretchen that she was a stay at home mother. She was faithfully present and involved in her children and then her grandchildren's events, performances, rehearsals, practices and celebrations. She volunteered tirelessly, be it as class parent, PTA officer, attendee at countless school board meetings, advocate with the League of Women Voters, volunteer with United Way, attendee of many a town hall, and museum docent. As a thinker and a scientist she was a model conservationist and recycler, a master of reduce, reuse, recycle. She was a staunch advocate for public schools, integration, separation of church and state, progressive democratic candidates and a thoughtful world.
She fondly remembered her early childhood in Youngstown "the freedom of those days – a small town at the mouth of the Niagara RIver where we played French and Indian war, built snow forts in the winter, and played opera in costumes on the big back lawn. Once old enough, I walked to first grade with neighbor children on the dusty side road. I remember a sense of being on one's own–I never remember feeling afraid." She fostered a love of history, performance, and the visual arts throughout her life. Gretchen and Basil supported and regularly attended theater, concerts, lectures, and art exhibits. Gretchen toured so many school children through the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Burke Museum in Seattle, always encouraging their engagement and interpretations of the exhibits.
Gretchen was also an accomplished musician. She played and performed with early music groups, including the Before Bach Ensemble, the American Recorder Society, and New Orleans' Musica da Camera, in small groups of three to six on instruments including the recorder, crumhorn, and viol da gamba. She researched music of the Middle Ages, scoured libraries for music, experimented with arrangements, designed and created era appropriate performance wear, and often was the designated speaker for performances.
Gretchen leaves behind three children: Deon Anex and his wife Lisa; Liese Anex and her wife Sue Ries; Robin Anex and her wife, Anne Shrauner. She also leaves behind five grandchildren: Quinn, Marta, Dana, Simone, and Frederick. And one beloved great grandchild, Adrian.
The family has deep gratitude for the caring staff at Aegis Ravenna where she lived the final years of her life, reading, napping and enjoying the beautiful trees out her window.