Ethel (Green) Anderson
Ethel Lou Green Anderson was born on May 26, 1921, on the Houghton home farm (later known as the Green home farm) in West Enosburgh, Vermont, the daughter of the late Guy and Ella (Houghton) Green.
Ethel was the last of her generation at 101 years old. She is predeceased by her parents and her siblings: Harold Green and wife, Joyce (Perry), Oakley Green and wife, Gladys (Eldred), and Bernice and husbands, Fred Russell and James D’Ambrosio. She is also predeceased by her husband of 53 years, Ralph F. Anderson, and his brother, Wilton C and his wife, Isabelle (Sanborn); and all of her first cousins and nieces Marie (Russell) Dobbs, Linda Green; and grandson, Nathan Anderson.
Ethel is survived by her four children: Doris and husband, Ron Burgess, Bruce and wife Bonnie (Beddes), Eric and wife Debra (Clough), and Roy. She has 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.
She is also survived by her nieces and nephews: Gloria (Russell) Leong and husband, Harvey, Ann (Russell) Zender and husband, Brent, Fay Russell, Raymond Green, Cheryl (Green) Ahumada and husband, Rick, Sheila (Green) Ridofi and husband, Glenn, Kathy (Green) Stetson and husband Tim, Susan (Green) Drown and husband, Kermit, Ingrid (Anderson) Colby and husband, Walter, Deborah (Anderson) Boemmels and husband, Keith and Scott Anderson and his wife. She also leaves 13 great-nieces and nephews, and at least 19 great-great-nieces and nephews.
Ethel worked on the family farm, sawmill, and sugarhouse until she left the Enosburgh area at 16 years of age to attend Edmunds High School in Burlington. She boarded with her Aunt Lucy Talbot and later with the Isham family. She obtained her chauffeur’s license to work during the summers. After graduating in 1941, she immediately started working at Bosch Industries in Massachusetts making precision instruments. She also volunteered for Civil Defense duty. In 1944 she joined the Women’s Army-Air Corps (WAAC). Upon completion of training in Georgia she was stationed in Colorado Springs, CO, where she met Ralph and three weeks later they married in March 1945.
Upon honorable military discharge, they moved to Massachusetts and lived with his folks. In June 1946 they moved to Vermont but found the farm life wasn’t for them, so they moved to Enosburg Falls. Ethel was active in the Enosburg Falls Methodist Church. She was always ready to help on the Green farm, usually during haying and sugaring seasons. She did tailoring for the local shops and for others. She refurbished the Enosburg Falls High School Band uniform capes and made more. She was a room mother in grade school for seven years.
Ethel’s sister, Bernice and her family had moved to Fresno, CA in the late 1940s and encouraged Ethel and her family to head on out. In 1959 the Andersons – Ralph, Ethel, Doris, Bruce, and Roy – left Vermont, for Porterville, CA. In 1963 the youngest child, Eric, was born. Ethel stayed busy with the Porterville Methodist Church, housekeeping, and home health care for others, and worked as a school crossing guard, PTA (Life Member), Cub Scout leader, Girl Scouts, AARP, Eastern Star, and VFW Auxiliary. She lived in service to others.
In 1962, Ethel and Ralph got their first RV and started traveling on the weekends; venturing on longer trips as the years went by, making many trips to New England visiting family. Later Ethel took tours and went on a cruise. Her favorite trip was as an honored member of the Central Valley Honor Flight to Washington D.C. with World War II veterans accompanied by her son, Maj. Eric Anderson, Ret. in 2015.
After selling her Porterville home of 58 years she lived with Eric for several years before living with Doris, where she died on the afternoon of January 23, 2023. Her viewing and graveside services were held in Porterville a week later. Ethel is buried with her husband, Ralph, in Hillcrest Cemetery in Porterville, CA.
