Carolyn Willson Anderson

CAROLYN WILLSON ANDERSON, beloved mother, wife, sister, academic, art historian, collector, and traveler, died on Thursday, Nov. 24, in Little Rock, at 91 years of age. She was the longtime life partner of William Clements, Jr. of Hillcrest, Little Rock, from 1993, when the two re-met at their 50th reunion at Little Rock Central High School, where they had both been students in the early 1940s. Carolyn was born in Fort Sill, Okla. on Aug. 3, 1925, to First Lieutenant Thomas Willson (later Colonel) and Anna Grace Adams, both of Arkansas. With her brother, James Willson, her childhood was spent in the itinerant life of an Army family, with her father stationed at US Army posts from Fort Sill, Okla., to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, to Fort Slocum, New Rochelle, N.Y. She was a lover of learning and education, following her high school studies by earning a bachelor's degree from Vassar College, a master's degree in Archaeology from Cambridge University, England, a second master's degree in Library Science and a PhD in Byzantine Russian Art History, both from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1949 she married Alan Ross Anderson of Little Rock, a professor of philosophy at Yale University and later at the University of Pittsburgh. They embarked on a life of learning and travel, and produced five children, one of whom died in infancy. Following her husband's death in 1973, Carolyn returned to university studies, earning advanced degrees and becoming a collector of art and decorative arts, before returning to live in Little Rock in 1993. She was predeceased by her infant daughter Mary Christina and her adult son Nicholas George, and is survived by her brother James, her children Jeffrey, Elizabeth, and Timothy, as well as by her life partner William Clements of Little Rock. In loving remembrance of a full and rich life, by her family and friends. Arrangements by Ruebel Funeral Home. www.ruebelfuneralhome.com.