Anne Walsh Mitchell of Climax, NY died on Saturday, January 31, 2026, from dementia-related causes at home.  She was 75 years old.  She was proud to have been born at home and was without doubt equally proud to be able to die there.

Anne was born on May 26, 1950 in Hingham, MA and spent her childhood moving every two years as her father’s work as a time study engineer ended in one textile mill and moved on to another. Among these were Spartanburg, SC, Bellingham, WA, Pendleton, OR, and Richmond, IN.  Anne also lived Hollywood, FL and graduated from Principia High School in St. Louis, MO. In every new school she came to, the best students in her class found their established hierarchy necessarily reshuffled.  Anne applied to Wellesley College—an institution she had not known of before—more or less on a bet when a classmate suggested she would never be accepted. She was awarded a full academic scholarship and graduated magna cum laude in 1972 with a BS in astronomy. Anne was a very proud Wellesley alumna and supporter all her life. She also held an MA in Early Childhood Administration from the Bank Street College of Education.

After college, Anne was a VISTA volunteer. In VISTA, she helped parents in a Boston housing project establish their own childcare center. Later in Vermont, she became first the bookkeeper, then the director of the Norwich Daycare Center and advocated for early childhood programs in Montpelier with the state legislature.  These things set her career path for the future.

Anne was the life partner of Phillip Hershberger for almost 46 years with more than 43 years together as a married couple.  No one ever loved him more or more completely. From this covenant came their daughter, Amelia Mitchell Hershberger, and their grandson, Henry Irving Porter, of Albany, NY. She adored them both with assiduous attention and unflagging support, and her love extended to their friends. All survive her, as do her sister, Gail Mitchell Markway of Atlanta, GA; Amelia’s partner, James Duncan; Henry’s father, Jason Porter and his fiancé, Rebecca Rathbun; and her nieces and nephew, cousins, many friends, associates and work colleagues. Anne was a great friend and knew that the best way to have good friends was to be a good friend. Both of Anne’s parents, Kate Margaret Walsh Mitchell and Robert Buck Mitchell are deceased, as is her much beloved younger brother, Robert Lawrence Mitchell, Hilo, Hawaii.  A previous marriage to Dr. Richard Rox Anderson, during which she co-directed Flying Cloud, a summer camp program at Farm and Wilderness Camps, Plymouth, VT, ended in divorce.

Anne was employed at Bank Street College of Education from 1981 to 1991 in its research division, created a master’s degree program in Early Childhood Administration and became an Associate Dean of Research while there. She was the lead author on two major published research studies.  A sabbatical in 1991 led her to full time, freelance consulting and the establishment of Early Childhood Policy Research, the one-woman business she operated through 2018 from her home office.   Anne usually worked on half a dozen jobs at once for states, state legislatures, major foundations, corporations and universities.  She also served as a board member and president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and on the advisory board of Scholastic Publications. No one was more knowledgeable than she about quality rating systems (QRIS) for child care centers or had a more comprehensive grasp of the finances involved in providing quality care to children in childcare settings.  Anne often shared expert advice freely when asked and mentored younger people whom she advanced as the appropriate inheritors of the work she did.  She was an enormously gifted and regular public speaker who conveyed ideas with clarity and passion, excitement and energy.

Anne also was a competent potter, quilter, gardener, basket maker and cook; a capable plumber, electrician, mason and carpenter, and baked memorable, prize-winning pies. There was little generally that she could not turn her hand to with a nonchalant excellence.

Anne very proudly served for more than 18 years on the Greenville Central school board, Greenville, NY, as board member, vice-president and president, an elected and unpaid position. She served as board member and treasurer of the Greenville Education Foundation.   She also participated in politics on the local level through the Democratic Party in the Town of New Baltimore, NY and Greene County, and was a staunch supporter of civil liberties, civil rights, and democratic institutions at all levels of government.

She was a leader and a problem solver throughout her life.  She welcomed and truly enjoyed close collaboration with others.  She was enormously courageous in everything she did and in the love she shared.  Her work for children was a passion that always was far more important to her than claiming credit. She was the recipient of an array of awards and acknowledgements from national and locally-sited child advocacy organizations that fully recognized her considerable contributions.

Liz Polhemus, to whom Anne’s family is eternally grateful, was a stalwart companion and caregiver to Anne in her final years. Anne’s family wishes to sincerely thank Community Hospice and its caregivers for all their expert assistance during Anne’s final months.

A memorial gathering will be held at Cunningham’s Funeral Home, 4898 SR 81, Greenville, NY, on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. A time of remembrance and sharing will begin at 2 p.m. Attendees may wish to eschew the entirely funerial and display a splash of red.  

Donations in her name may be made to The Community Hospice (communityhospice.org).  Condolences may be posted at ajcunninghamfh.com.