Anne Springs Close, the first woman to serve on the Wofford College Board of Trustees, died Aug. 20, 2021 at her home in Fort Mill, South Carolina. She was 95.

Close was the mother of current trustee Dr. Katherine A. “Katy” Close ’83.

Anne Spring Close served as a trustee for Wofford from 1974 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1996. She was the first woman to chair the board from 1984 to 1986.

It was during her time as a trustee that the board voted for the college to become fully coeducational and to offer residence hall space for women in the fall of 1976. Dr. Joab M. Lesesne Jr., the college’s ninth president, called Close “the mother of coeducation at Wofford” because of her influence with her fellow trustees at the time of the decision. She also helped kick off the college’s first comprehensive strategic planning effort as board chair, hosting fellow trustees for a planning retreat in May 1986 at Springmaid Beach.

Close was an ardent naturalist, conservationist, philanthropist and the last living person to have flown across the Atlantic aboard the German airship Hindenburg. She lived life with gusto: traveling to New York City from Northampton to join V-E (Victory in Europe) celebrations at the end of World War II. There she met, kissed and eventually married war hero Lt. Hugh William Close.

Later in life, she chaired several national boards, including the National Recreation Association. She traveled to more than 60 countries, including Swaziland, Bhutan, Mongolia, Iran, Mali and Yemen. She climbed Mount Kilimanjaro three times as an octogenarian.

“It just seems impossible that anyone could have done and accomplished all that Anne did during her lifetime,” says Lesesne. “She ran marathons, raised nine children and was always ready to share her love of the outdoors. Once she survived a hang-gliding accident and still made it to the Wofford Board of Trustees meeting right afterwards. You never knew when she came to Wofford what she’d been doing last. I admired her so much.”

In addition to her family’s generosity to Wofford College, she was a champion in all areas of conservation, land preservation and natural history across South Carolina. York County’s Anne Springs Close Greenway honors her and her leadership and vision in shaping the project. She was also a shining example to her large family — children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren — of what true servant leadership was.

by Jo Ann Mitchell Brasington ’89