Anne M. Boise

When she was diagnosed in 2007 with lymphoma, Anne Boise took it like another bump in the road. Her life had its share of bumpy roads and she didn't hesitate to let you know. But she was also the strongest women and survived countless joint replacements as well as three bouts of lymphoma, but never complained about chemo and went through lengthy bouts of it all three times. But through whatever it might have been, she maintained her home and her independence, driving up until a few months ago. She left seven children, three grandchildren, her brother and many longtime friends.

Anna Mae Ponzio Boise, called Anne by everyone (except her own mother and occasionally her brothers), died at home on Friday, November 22, 2013 after a final brief stint at Canton-Potsdam Hospital. She was 92. She was known by many of the nurses, aides, and doctors at CPH.

Anne was born on 79th Street in New York City and married Edwin Boise on August 27, 1943 in Forest Hills, NY whom she had met while working at McCall's Magazine and he came in as an auditor. They lived briefly in New Jersey before moving to Levittown, Long Island and then to Huntington, Long Island before moving to Canton in 1962 on the day the town hall burned. They first lived on a farm site on Route 11 moving to 87 Judson Street in August 1963.

Golf and bridge were two of the things that captivated her, although her prowess at either might be questionable. She wrote the golf news for the St. Lawrence Plaindealer for a while. She was a voracious reader and in recent years her friend Thelma Miller would bring stacks of books from the Canton Public Library, in addition to the ones she read on her Kindle, and later her iPad. Anne served on the Canton-Potsdam Hospital Guild and then on the Hospital board.

After the death of her husband Edwin, known to most as "Red", Anne worked at the Canton Middle School in the library and later as court clerk for the town. She drove herself to Long Island whenever there was a friend or relative calling for a visit. She loved traveling and did several road trips with her longtime friend/sister-in-law Janet Ponzio, a sort of family "Thelma and Louise". She also was a long time parishioner of St. Mary's Church in Canton, more than happy to travel around the environs to enjoy a lunch or dinner with friends, read page six in the NY Post until the end, and when her children brought her an iPad for her 90th birthday, she went at it with a vengeance! She signed up for Facebook to check on her family and a few unsuspecting friends, read her newspapers, books, and most of all watched Netflix where she often chose BBC or PBS but was hooked on Breaking Bad - very sad when it was no more.

Anne is survived by her seven children, Claire Morda, Michael Boise, Pamela Frank, Linda Boise, Jenifer Matthews, Christopher Boise and Stuart Boise, her brother William Ponzio, her grandchildren Rebecca and Aliza Matthews and Meganne Boise-Hecker, her great-granddaughter Ella, sons-in-law Domenick Morda, Tom Frank, Phil Matthews, and daughter-in-law Natalie Boise, an assortment of their dogs and cats, and a bevy of kind, generous and loyal friends here in Canton.

A funeral mass will be held on Saturday, November 30, 2013 at 11:00 AM at St. Mary's Catholic Church with Rev. Douglas J. Lucia, celebrating.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Canton Public Library, Hospice of St. Lawrence County or Canton Potsdam Hospital which treated her and her family with warmth and a spirit of immense generosity during her last stay.

She will be cremated and buried in St. Mary's Cemetery alongside her late husband.