Win Anderson was born in Fairview, Mont. into a warm family that came to include four sisters, Ethel, Ruth, Nadine and Eleanor and one big brother, Phillip. Her parents, Benjamin and Hazel Anderson, were both teachers and ranchers.

She fondly recalled riding horses in the Big Sky Country with her siblings, and her father reading Shakespeare to the family in the evenings by lamp light. Win started out following in the family tradition, with a teaching certificate from Custer County Community College in Miles City, Mont.; but that was just the beginning.

The family moved to the Wallingford district of Seattle in the 1940s, and after a tour of duty in the Navy during World War II, she completed her bachelor of arts degree at the University of Washington in 1950 and then her masters of fine arts at Cranbrook Academy in Michigan in 1952.

After a brief period of time teaching, her former professor from the UW, Jack Lenor Larsen, invited her to join him in New York City to create a textile-design company.

Win was the president of Larsen Design Studio and Win Anderson Fabrics (Div. of JLL) and vice president of Jack Lenor Larsen Inc. from 1953 to 1974. In that capacity she traveled all over the world, working with weavers creating fabrics for home and commercial uses and innovative dying and weaving techniques. She had a modern country home in upstate New York with gorgeous gardens and a stylish brownstone on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It was there she welcomed her niece and nephew, Shellie and Rob, into her life after her sister Ruth’s death in 1970.

Arthritis began to deteriorate her health and mobility in her early forties and eventually forced her to retire early. She first landed in Desert Hot Springs, Calif. and this is where Win came to be a follower of Jesus Christ. She grew in grace there until she was led to Whidbey Island in 1983.

After coming to Whidbey Island, she was an active part of the South Whidbey Assembly of God and served on the church board for many years.

Her final years were spent at the pastor’s home, where she was so lovingly cared for by the Chamber family till she went home to be with the Lord on Nov. 25, 2009, 19 days before her 88th birthday.

Her memorial will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13 at the South Whidbey Assembly of God, 5373 Maxwelton Road, Langley.