Anne Siegel, a 40-year resident of Unadilla, NY, died on Saturday, September 19, 2015 of ovarian cancer.  She was 79 years old. 

A passionate life-long advocate for the environment, Anne championed many causes to better the planet and the community in which she lived.  While living in Albion, Michigan, in the late 1960s, she was part of a Kalamazoo River cleanup project.  She also was an organizer of Albion’s Festival of the Forks, named for the place where two branches of the river meet.  In more recent years, Anne helped found Unadilla Friends and Neighbors, a grassroots community organization opposed to hydraulic fracturing or fracking, particularly in upstate New York.

Born September 12, 1936, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, the daughter of Julia E. Baker (nee Chapman) and E.G. Stanley Baker, Anne spent her early school years shuttling between Indiana and various Army Air Corps bases in the southern United States, where her father was stationed during World War II.

A 1954 graduate of Morristown High School, Morristown, New Jersey, Anne met her future husband, Michael H. Siegel, when they were both students at Oberlin College in Ohio.  She transferred to Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1958 with a degree in political science.  After marrying that June, Anne taught the second grade for a year, then suspended her professional life to raise a family. 

Never one to pass up a challenge, on a dare she wrote a humor column called “Cabbages and Kings” for two years for the Albion Journal in the late 1960s.  Once her children were older, Anne resumed gainful employment.  She served as the secretary-treasurer of Beta Beta Beta, an undergraduate honor society for biology students, and editor of its journal, Bios, from 1978 to 1984.  There, she honed her computer skills and transformed the large membership organization from one with myriad drawers of address cards to a cutting-edge non-profit organization with a professional database.  She continued to use those skills as a database manager and consultant to other non-profit organizations.  Anne also served on both the Unadilla Zoning Board of Appeals and the Unadilla Planning Board.

In addition to her environmental, social justice, and animal welfare causes, Anne spent many happy hours singing with the Catskill Choral Society in Oneonta, New York; she was an active member and officer from 1986 to 2003.  She left the Choral Society when she thought her voice was no longer strong enough for public performance, but Anne never stopped singing, crooning torch songs and popular tunes from the 1930s and 40s on her way into surgery, and in her final days.

She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Michael Siegel, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at SUNY Oneonta, sons David E. Siegel of Silver Spring, Maryland and Donald L. Siegel of Edison, New Jersey, daughter Julie L. Siegel of Takoma Park, Maryland, and brothers Edgar (Ted) Baker of Branchburg, New Jersey and James (Jamie) Baker of Brooklyn, New York.

A memorial service is planned for the spring of 2016.

In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in Anne’s memory to any of these organizations that she supported:

• The Elephant Sanctuary, 27 East Main Street, P.O. Box 393, Hohenwald, TN 38462 http://shop.elephants.com/product/0F42CB6/inmemorydonation.php

• Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Rd, Kanab, UT 84741-5000, Attention Jonna W., http://bestfriends.org/

• Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, P.O. Box 216, Miles, TX76861 http://www.donkeyrescue.org/

On-line condolences may be made at:  www.wmaddenfh.com.  Arrangements by the Westcott-Madden Funeral Home 123 Main Street Unadilla.

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