Anita McCoy

April 1, 1924 - June 11, 2007

Anita McCoy, 83, of Corvallis passed away peacefully on June 11 of natural causes. Born in Holland in April 1924, she moved with her family to Czechoslovakia at an early age. After an idyllic early childhood, the atrocities associated with the Nazi occupation during World War II profoundly shaped her views on the importance of human rights. She moved to the United States with her mother shortly after the war. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr. Anita met Robert McCoy while attending graduate school at the University of Texas, and they married in 1950. Robert’s career took them from Massachusetts to California, where they raised four children. Anita’s interests in social issues and the sciences bore fruit in her participation in civic organizations (League of Women’s Voters, Friends of the Library) and outdoor activities (camping, fishing, hiking). In sharing these activities with her family, she instilled in them compassion and a reverence for the natural world. In 1980, Robert and Anita retired to Corvallis, where she became an advocate for citizens through a variety of organizations including Aging Services and Senior Services. She remained active in these organizations until recently, when she benefited from them herself. Anita is survived by her four children, Chris, Bob, Katie and Matt; four grandchildren, Megan, Darcy, Jennifer and Daniel; and two great-grandchildren, Kaitlin and Nevada Jean. The family will hold a private service for Anita when her ashes join Robert’s in the Eastern Sierras, their wilderness spiritual home.