Obituary for Anne Niles Davenport
Anne Niles Davenport, of Freeland, passed away July 27 in her home. She was 78. Anne was the first child of Franklin Niles Davenport and Ellen Atkinson Davenport and was born September 9, 1943, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Anne grew up on her parents’ dairy farm near New Hope, Pennsylvania and attended Buckingham Friends’ School and New Hope-Solebury High School. She played a mean game of field hockey and excelled academically. She attended Swarthmore College, graduating in 1965. Marriage soon followed and she and her husband moved to Seattle, Washington where her son Peter Mark Held was born. Mark was cheerful, smart, and easy to love, and became an environmental lawyer.
During the first years of Anne’s working life she focused on women’s rights. In 1980, she married John C. Holbron, and in time they relocated to his native Hawaii. Anne was a lifelong knitter, and in Hawaii she began her true vocation as fiber artist by purchasing and running a yarn store, and learning to thread a loom. She and John returned to the mainland, lived briefly in her old stomping grounds near New Hope, Pennsylvania, and eventually moved permanently to Whidbey Island.
Anne was an avid supporter of her husband’s work in horticulture, and herself became a reliable adviser about specialty and exotic plants. After a few years of primarily quilting, she devoted herself to weaving and its associated skills, and to building a cooperative community of textile artists and learners on Whidbey Island and beyond. Anne understood the value of her work, time, and expertise; and exhorted others to understand the same for themselves. She was a member of multiple arts groups over the years, some of which she was instrumental in founding. She became recognized for her extraordinary woven and design work as well as for her teaching.
Photographs of her work can be found at www.rainshadowstextile.com and her blog at www.weavewright.com.
Preceding her in death are her son, Mark Held, who died in 2002, and her husband, John Holbron, who died in 2019. Anne is survived by her brother, Rusty Davenport of Truckee and San Francisco, CA and his two sons; Linda Davenport of San Francisco and Denver, CO and her two sons; and Betsy Davenport of Cornelius, OR, whose daughter Annie Kaplan was one of Anne’s primary caregivers in her home since February.
A memorial gathering will be held on September 15, 2022, at 3:00 pm, at the Freeland Hall, 1515 E. Shoreview Drive, 98249.
Anne’s favorite spot on the Island was Ebey’s Landing. Whenever she drove up that way, she stopped to gaze out at the water, beachline, rolling hills, and the birds. She talked about it every time she got a chance to go. Her capacity for noticing and taking pleasure in everyday beauty in the natural world had abundant fodder in her garden and its birds.
Known for her vibrant personality, keen mind, and sassy sense of humor, the textile world has lost a bright light.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the newly formed Anne Niles Davenport Scholarship Fund. This has been set up to extend and honor Anne’s commitment to the education of textile artists (c/o Danette Sulgrove PO Box 1344 Langley, WA 98260).
Anne grew up on her parents’ dairy farm near New Hope, Pennsylvania and attended Buckingham Friends’ School and New Hope-Solebury High School. She played a mean game of field hockey and excelled academically. She attended Swarthmore College, graduating in 1965. Marriage soon followed and she and her husband moved to Seattle, Washington where her son Peter Mark Held was born. Mark was cheerful, smart, and easy to love, and became an environmental lawyer.
During the first years of Anne’s working life she focused on women’s rights. In 1980, she married John C. Holbron, and in time they relocated to his native Hawaii. Anne was a lifelong knitter, and in Hawaii she began her true vocation as fiber artist by purchasing and running a yarn store, and learning to thread a loom. She and John returned to the mainland, lived briefly in her old stomping grounds near New Hope, Pennsylvania, and eventually moved permanently to Whidbey Island.
Anne was an avid supporter of her husband’s work in horticulture, and herself became a reliable adviser about specialty and exotic plants. After a few years of primarily quilting, she devoted herself to weaving and its associated skills, and to building a cooperative community of textile artists and learners on Whidbey Island and beyond. Anne understood the value of her work, time, and expertise; and exhorted others to understand the same for themselves. She was a member of multiple arts groups over the years, some of which she was instrumental in founding. She became recognized for her extraordinary woven and design work as well as for her teaching.
Photographs of her work can be found at www.rainshadowstextile.com and her blog at www.weavewright.com.
Preceding her in death are her son, Mark Held, who died in 2002, and her husband, John Holbron, who died in 2019. Anne is survived by her brother, Rusty Davenport of Truckee and San Francisco, CA and his two sons; Linda Davenport of San Francisco and Denver, CO and her two sons; and Betsy Davenport of Cornelius, OR, whose daughter Annie Kaplan was one of Anne’s primary caregivers in her home since February.
A memorial gathering will be held on September 15, 2022, at 3:00 pm, at the Freeland Hall, 1515 E. Shoreview Drive, 98249.
Anne’s favorite spot on the Island was Ebey’s Landing. Whenever she drove up that way, she stopped to gaze out at the water, beachline, rolling hills, and the birds. She talked about it every time she got a chance to go. Her capacity for noticing and taking pleasure in everyday beauty in the natural world had abundant fodder in her garden and its birds.
Known for her vibrant personality, keen mind, and sassy sense of humor, the textile world has lost a bright light.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the newly formed Anne Niles Davenport Scholarship Fund. This has been set up to extend and honor Anne’s commitment to the education of textile artists (c/o Danette Sulgrove PO Box 1344 Langley, WA 98260).