Anne Hamilton

We mourn the death of Anne Hamilton, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, and mentor to a host of Floridians, Kentuckians, health care professionals, paramours, and martini bibbers. She passed away on February 19, 2023, after a very long illness.

A spitfire character, Anne was a rara avis, a crackling combination of spirit, insatiable energy, strong opinions, and fun hats. She would never sit down. Always in motion, only a hemorrhagic stroke kept her seated.

In social work and healthcare, she nurtured and cheer-led a legion of social workers across more than four decades of professional endeavors as an LCSW, first for the State of Florida, where she toiled in Children's Protective Services, then as a Director of Social Services for numerous healthcare facilities and hospitals, including ORMC.

Her awards and recognition across many years reflect a life of passion and compassion for her community, for the sick, and for others less fortunate. She was a repeat winner of Social Worker of the Year for the region and state. Serving the City of Winter Park, she was a 10-year veteran of the Civil Service Board, actively engaged in providing support and guidance for the city's Police and Fire Departments and EMTs. Additionally, she spent years of volunteer service with the Down Syndrome Association of Central FL. Even after retirement, she was an active leader and steady, calming voice for families and their loved ones suffering from dementia for the Alzheimer Resource Center of Central Florida. And back in the early days of the AIDs crisis, she was formally honored by the LGBTQ community for her efforts in raising awareness of the suffering when those with the disease were treated as pariahs. Anne proudly knocked on doors for Barack Obama before and after he was president, and loudly joined the Women's March in 2016.

She moved to Winter Park in 1968 with her family via Arlington, VA (where her daughter was born), then Germany (where her son was born), then Cape Kennedy where her then-husband, Charles, was serving in the Navy. They met in Savannah, GA, where he was on shore leave from the USS Midway, and loved each other madly until their marriage ended in divorce some years later.

Hers was a southern sensibility, born and raised in Murray, Kentucky, the kind of place with a town square and a Rexall with a soda fountain prized for its afterschool milkshakes. It was a borough of blue laws, Methodists, quick-corn light bread, and tobacco farms just a stone's throw from the Tennessee border where the whiskey was legal and carried a bona fide label.

A lover of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, of Yo-Yo Ma, of good food, good theatre, good enough wine, and a flinty cocktail...with at least two olives in the glass. She traveled often with her longtime companion, Bob Williams, to various European, American (North and South), and Asian shores.

Anne is survived by her daughter, Christine Hamilton, son, Charles Hamilton, daughter-in-law, Mary Dunn and grandsons, Joshua and Hudson. They will miss her greatly for her humor and good grace, her devoted love, and her inimitable cinnamon rolls.

A service will be held Saturday, March 11th, 2pm at the First United Methodist Church of Winter Park, where she was a longstanding member and volunteer in church activities. Any floral donations, please have delivered to the church on Saturday, March 11th by 1pm. All other donations might be considered for the following organizations: The Alzheimer's and Dementia Resource Center of Central Florida (https://adrccares.org/donate/), the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida (https://www.dsacf.org/donate), and The Hope Clinic, a specialized PT/OT center where Anne received sensational therapy from a gifted and wonderful team of professionals (https://give.adventhealth.com/fundraiser/3913207).

Please see Highland Memory Gardens website for further details and funeral arrangements.