Ann Stuart Anderson

Ann Anderson, resident of Frederick, Maryland, died December 28, 2021. Born Carol Ann Stuart in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, on November 15, 1932, she was the daughter of Robert J. Stuart of Okmulgee and Julia Davis Stuart of Macon, Missouri. Throughout her life she was known as Ann.

The Stuart family resided in Okmulgee until moving to the Pacific Northwest in 1939 and to the city of Bellingham, Washington in 1940 where they stayed throughout the war. Ann attended public schools in Bellingham until 1945 when the family moved to Spokane, where Ann graduated from high school in 1950. She later attended Washington State University in Pullman where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Denver University in Colorado where she was awarded a master’s degree in Political Philosophy.

Her interest in American government and political thought were reflected in a career of teaching and research. She taught courses in political theory and constitutional law at Rockford College in Illinois, Claremont Men’s College in California, and Yale University in Connecticut. She was a major contributor along with her husband Martin Diamond (1916-1977) to a college textbook in American government and published articles on the Constitution’s separation of powers and the history and exercise of power by the Federal Judiciary. At the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC., she was the Associate Editor of the magazine Regulation and Assistant Director, Legal Studies. To all these areas she brought energy and passion, motivated by her study of the nation’s founding and a particular interest in the thought and writings of James Madison.

A new phase came to Ann’s life when she met Fr. Alister Anderson whom she married in 1984. The center shifted to their time and their experiences together, with family, during their many travels, in their home, with friends, and through their activities and their associations. Alister became a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, a spiritual home for Ann as well, found after an extended journey by both, but a journey that ended in a place where they could remain, in their own words, “contentedly for the rest of their days”.

A friend wrote of Ann that she was intelligent, kind and resilient. She was, without doubt, all of these things and, for that reason, is and will remain in the hearts of those who knew her. She was also interesting and fun to know and to be with. She had an eye for quality in art and a talent for decoration. The clothes she wore were clothes she sewed herself. She was a wonderful cook. The meal she prepared for the family at Christmas in her Frederick home was a centerpiece of the family’s life and a culinary high point. She read seriously in many topics but for escape and enjoyment, read mysteries and spy novels. She knew and cherished the best of music and the best of film and drama. She had her favorite athletes and teams – carefully chosen, because they were not just an entertainment, but were embraced as a cause. She was the repository of family lore and ancestral history, especially where that history unfolded on this continent. She had an appreciation for the grit and the sacrifice that built this nation and wanted to know, and her family to know, where their forebears fit in that story. She admired courage, determination, and independence of thought. She was happily immersed in her Church and comforted by her faith. Whatever she chose to do, she did with all the energy that she had. And for all those matters where she directed her attention, she was decisive and clear in her beliefs and her choices.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband of 34 years, Father Alister C. Anderson and by her son, Paul Sheldon.

Ann is survived by her daughter, Diane Stuart, of Rockville, Maryland, her grandchildren,
Sam Wappel and Max Wappel, also of Rockville; her Sister, Barbara Stilson, of Seattle, Washington; and her Brother, Robert Stuart, of Vienna, Virginia.
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The family will receive friends from 5pm to 7pm, on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at the Keeney & Basford Funeral Home, 106 E. Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701. The funeral service will be held at 11:00AM, on Thursday, January 13, 2021 at the funeral home. Interment will follow at St. John's Cemetery.

Online condolences may be shared at www.keeneybasford.com.