Anne Reverdy Cramer Nourse, 87, of Easton, PA died Sunday morning Jan 7, 2024.
Born Dec 21, 1936 in British Hong Kong, Anne was the only child of Leigh Reverdy Cramer and Margaret Blanche Schwald Cramer. She and her husband, the late Col. Robert Hugh Nourse, were married 62 years.
Anne grew up overseas in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Panama and the American Canal Zone before naturalizing as a US citizen as an adult. Anne moved around the world frequently as a child – routinely taking long steamship journeys, trans-oceanic island-hopping flights, and rail trips often unaccompanied by an adult. She and her mother narrowly escaped internment by the Japanese military in 1941 but had close friends who were less fortunate. Anne loved her time in Panama and told many stories of adventure including swimming with friends in the Atlantic Ocean at dawn and the Pacific Ocean at dusk on the same day.
She married Bob at West Point in 1955 and had 4 children in a span of 14 years – raising them simultaneously while juggling the demands of military service that ordered Bob to serve four distinct overseas deployments while the children were still small.
Anne worked part-time in church offices while stationed in California and Virginia before earning a bachelor’s degree in 1983 from Marymount University. She also performed the myriad social responsibilities that accompany being a senior officer’s wife with grace, tact and empathy.
After Bob retired from the Army, Anne and Bob moved to Easton, PA in 1983 for Bob to begin his second career at Lafayette College, at which point they made College Hill, Easton their permanent home. Anne taught special education in the Pohatcong Township, NJ school system for 10 years before retiring in the 1990s. After her retirement, Anne volunteered her time to Trinity Episcopal Church where she sat on the Vestry, the Fourth Street Alliance, Habitat for Humanity, the Fortnightly Club, and the Easton Historic House Tour – among others. A lover of animals, Anne took in several rescued cats and dogs in her later years. Anne earned a Master’s degree in Divinity from Moravian Seminary in 2004 which she used to provide comfort and communion to the sick and isolated of the Lehigh Valley for a decade.
Some knew Anne as a serious and scholarly person, but to those who knew her best she revealed a rich and dry sense of humor. Above all, Anne loved her family. She was dedicated to her husband, Bob. She received special joy from her 11 grandchildren – Steve, Bryan, Carolyn, Geoff, Joe, Alex, Ethan, Kevin, Elizabeth, Reverdy and Grace – to whom she devoted herself without limit. She generously ensured that large annual family gatherings occurred at the oceanside in the summers and at home in Easton at Christmas.
Surviving Anne are her children, Catherine Anne Mueller of Badin, NC; Patricia Nourse Culbertson of Charlottesville, VA; Robert Leigh Nourse of Easton; and James Reverdy Nourse of State College, PA; 11 grandchildren and 4 great-granddaughters.
Services will be held at 10:30 am on Saturday, January 20, 2024 in the Ashton Funeral Home, 1337 Northampton St., Easton. Private interment will be in West Point Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, www.alz.org or the Dartmouth Cancer Center, https://cancer.dartmouth.edu/donate. Offer online condolences at www.AshtonFuneralHome.com.
