Anna Elizabeth Klauder passed away on January 29, 2024 at her home in Seattle, WA, surrounded by her family after courageously and heroically fighting brain cancer for 9 years. Born September 29, 1975 Anna spent her early years in Doe Bay and Eastsound on Orcas Island, WA.

Anna went to high school at The Northwest School in Seattle, WA, and received a BA in economics at Connecticut College. Several summers during her high school years Anna had the opportunity to travel to countries under the Iron Curtain -an experience that made a lasting impression on her. During a gap year that followed her high school graduation, she traveled to China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Anna continued her education after college. She studied painting therapy at the Emerald Foundation in the Hague. She earned a Masters Degree in Child and Family Law from Loyola University in Chicago and she completed a fellowship/certificate program at the University of Massachusetts, Boston to become an Infant Mental Health Specialist.

Her professional life was centered around children. During her time in Chicago she volunteered with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate), provided academic and social/emotional assessments for children in Head Start, at Jane Adams Hull House and for the Erickson Institute. She also worked as the Director of the Parent Resource Center at Bastyr University in Seattle, and at the University of Arkansas Medical Services she trained preschool teachers about trauma-informed caregiving.

When Anna learned of her illness with its 12-18 month prognosis, she moved forward with daunting determination for 9 years, living a life filled with gardening, art and good friends. She loved gardening, and nurtured a remarkable pollinator garden filled with flowers and trees that became a haven for bees. With an interest in intimate details she took many, many photos in her garden of the flowers, insects, and birds that flourished there.

Anna was a talented and artistic weaver fascinated by texture and color. She had a witty sense of humor — always ready to share a joke or a cartoon that she had drawn, an impeccable sense of style, and an eye for design.

Anna was taken from us far too soon. She was a kind and generous person who cared deeply for others and will live on in our hearts forever. A high school friend reminisced upon hearing of her passing: “She was the sweetest person … with just the right amount of salt.” And another, “she was fierce, hilarious and loving right up to the end.”

Anna is survived by her husband David Call, mother Polly Sanford and father Jim Klauder, sister Gretchen Bennett, brothers Caleb Klauder and James Klauder, nephew Elijah Klauder and nieces Emma and Polly Bennett, as well as her extended family and many dear friends.