ANNE C. EDMONDS, 93, of Camden, died on October 30, 2018 at Pen Bay Medical Center. Anne was born in Penang, Malaysia on December 19, 1924. She was the daughter of William John Edmonds, a pharmacist, who was born in London, England. Her mother, Nell Carey, a school teacher, was born in Doubs, Maryland. Her parents met and were married in Penang.
In the 1930’s, the family along with Anne’s two siblings, moved to Eastbourne, England where her father acquired a pharmacy business. During WWII, this coast town suffered extensive bombings and faced the threat of invasion. As a consequence, Anne and her two sisters were part of an evacuation scheme which sent school children to safety in the country north of London, where they stayed for two years. In 1943, her father was killed during an air raid. In 1944, Anne was injured by a VI flying bomb, shot down over the town. She attended the University of Reading for two years and then was assigned to work in the office of the government War Damage Commission in London from 1944-1946.
In 1946, Anne’s widowed mother, who maintained her American citizenship, moved the family to the United States where Anne attended Barnard College, and later Columbia University where she earned a Master’s degree in library services.
Her library career began as a children’s assistant in the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore. She moved into the academic arena as a reference librarian at City College, New York, then to Goucher College in Townson, Maryland. Ann was the library director at Douglass College, New Brunswick, NJ, and culminated her career with thirty years as college librarian at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA in 1994. The college awarded her an honorary doctorate at her retirement.
Anne’s professional activities included a year as an exchange librarian at the European services library of the BBC in London, and a six month’s consultant position at the University of the North, an ethnic based university in Turfloop in the northern Transvaal, South Africa. She taught library courses at summer sessions at Rutgers and Syracuse universities.
Anne moved to Camden in 1996, where she had purchased a house in 1980. She was active in the Camden Library, supporting the program which renovated Harbor Park and the library’s amphitheater. She served for ten years on the board of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art; was an active member of the American Association of University W omen and its scholarship program for local high school students. Anne was a communicant of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, serving on the vestry and various committees.
Anne was known in the area for her red hat, especially at the Waterfront Restaurant and Hannaford super market; and for her cat, Mia Tiger, sitting on the doorstep of the yellow door to her house.
Anne found solace in the intimate view of Camden Harbor from her house, in the panoramic vista seen from Mount Battie, in the broad sweep across blueberry fields, and in the clarity of dazzling sunsets from her bench on the lawn of the Camden Library.
“Reading maketh a full man”, from Francis Bacon, as inscribed on her bench in the grounds of the Camden Public Library, attest to her long career as a librarian, and her lifetime commitment to books and reading.
Predeceased by a sister, Jane, Anne is survived by her sister, Gillian; nephews, Mark and his wife, Catherine; Richard and his wife, Catherine; and great-nieces Elizabeth, Charlotte, Alice, and Louise.
A celebration of Anne's life will be held on November 29 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Camden.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Camden Public Library, St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, or United Mid-Coast Charities, institutions that were dear to Anne's heart.
Condolences may be shared with the family at www.longfuneralhomecamden.com. Arrangements are with the Long Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 9 Mountain Street, Camden.

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