In Memory of Anne Simpson Pardington, LCOP Co-Founder

Anne Simpson Pardington, a retired counselor and educator and beloved Mom and Nana, died Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Portland with her two children by her side. She was 85.  

Anne was born in Ruston, Louisiana on November 23, 1938 to Col. Ralph Thomas Simpson and Lillian Banks Simpson. She grew up as an Army brat during and after World War II and attended 13 schools, including two years in Okinawa, Japan.

She had meningitis as a toddler and was deaf in one ear and blind in one eye. She couldn’t hear much in her other ear either and didn’t get a hearing aid until she was an adult. She still graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Arkansas in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in math and history, and she was one of the first women to attend Austin Presbyterian Seminary, where she earned a Master of Christian Education in 1964.

In 1965, she married The Rev. Dr. G. Palmer Pardington III, and they had two children, Robert and Suzanne. She joined Palmer on his clergy path through New York, Louisiana, California, and Virginia before the family settled in Portland in 1978. In each place, she made many friends and found something interesting to do, such as teaching math and history, volunteering with the National Organization for Women and marching for the Equal Rights Amendment in Washington, D.C.  

She earned a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at Lewis & Clark College in 1981 and co-founded and taught in the Life & Career Options Program at Clackamas Community College, helping students find new paths in education and life for 20 years. She was a voracious reader and loved to pick the right book for the right person at the right time, often at her favorite bookstore, Broadway Books in Portland. In her final years, she lived in assisted living at Courtyard at Mt. Tabor with her orange tabby cat, Cady. Her husband, Palmer, died in 2017. 

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Robert Pardington and Kristin Harper; daughter and son-in-law, Suzanne Pardington Effros and Steve Effros; and four grandchildren, Lila, Eva, Ezra and Samuel.