Obituary – Anne Harrington Gay – Fauquier Now
Anne Marie Harrington Gay, who spent the last eight years of her life in Warrenton, passed away peacefully on August 6, 2021, at the Lake Manassas Health and Rehabilitation Center in Gainesville, surrounded by her family. She died five days after her 95th birthday.
Born August 1, 1926, she grew up in Warren, Pennsylvania, as the fourth of five children. Anne was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas Edward Harrington (1952) and Anna Munson Harrington (1967), her siblings, William Harrington (1945), Ella Harrington Cashman (2009), Alice Harrington Johnsen (2002), Dr. John L. Harrington (2021), her grandson, Patrick Ryan Gay (2007), her daughter-in-law, Pamela Jane Kettis Gay (2019), and her former husband, John Robert Gay (1984).
Anne is survived by her three children, Elizabeth A. Gay of Warrenton, Timothy M. Gay (spouse Elizabeth Oualline Gay) of Vienna and Thomas J. Gay of Warrenton, as well as five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, including two great-grandsons born this spring, which delighted her.
A medical technician by training, she received a degree from the Thomas Jefferson Medical Center in Philadelphia, having previously studied at the Norfolk campus of William & Mary/VPI. She worked in the lab at the Warren Medical Center from 1963 to 1970 and at Warren General Hospital from 1970 until her retirement in 1990.
After her graduation from Warren High School in 1943 at age 16, she lived with the family of her sister, Ella Harrington Cashman, and her husband, Dr. William M. Cashman, while he served as a surgeon at the Norfolk Naval Hospital during World War II. Upon returning to Warren, she pursued her career as a medical technologist at Warren General and became active in the Warren Players’ Club. After moving to Lansing, Michigan, with her husband, she moved to northern New Jersey with her young family in 1954, returning to Warren nine years later.
For many years, she was a faithful member of Warren’s St. Joseph’s Catholic parish, serving as an usher. In 2013, she moved to Warrenton to be closer to her children and grandchildren.
She loved old movies, dime store novels, the Great American Songbook and the music of Tony Bennett, whose date of birth, she was always proud to point out, came just two days after her own. She also loved playing cards with her grandchildren, especially 500 Rummy, where she gave no quarter.
A memorial service in Warren, Pa., will be planned for later this year.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Warren County (Pa.) Historical Society or the Patrick Ryan Gay Scholarship Fund.
Condolences may be offered at www.moserfuneralhome.com.