Longtime Falls Church Resident Anne Button Hart Dies at Age 81

Anne Button Hart (Brownrigg), 81, a longtime resident of both Falls Church and Loudoun County, died January 17 in Leesburg.

Mrs. Hart was born February 23, 1923, in Newark, N.J., to the late John C. Button and Olive D. Button. She was married to the large George V. Hart, a WWII Royal Air Force pilot, and subsequently to the late Philip Brownrigg, an insurance executive. Mrs. Hart attended the Julliard School in New York and Wilson College in Pennsylvania and graduated from New York University. She was a nationally syndicated news correspondent and columnist, author of two non-fiction books and past president of the American League of Pen Women. In the last 40 years, she founded numerous publications in the Northern Virginia region, most recently the Blue Ridge Antique Guide.

Mrs. Hart was also a realtor, principally focused on the renovation of older Loudoun properties, including many abandoned log structures. She was a benefactor of many schools and local organizations, including Shenandoah University, where she established a music scholarship, and the Loudoun Rescue Squad.

Mrs. Hart was predeceased by a won, Donald Hart. There are three grandchildren: Megan Hart and Lauren Hart of Leesburg, and Maureen Rayner of Herndon; two bothers, Robert Button of Old Greenwich, Connecticut, and Donald Button of Mt. Arlington, New Jersey; and, five stepchildren, Philip Brownrigg, Jr. of Clarkesville, Georgia, Grant Brownrigg of Charlottesville, VA, Peter Brownrigg of Vienna, VA, Sarah Camp of West Point, VA, and Elizabeth Brownrigg of Durham, North Carolina.

A memorial service was held Jan. 29 at the Leesburg United Methodist Church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Capital Hospice, 209 Gibson St., NW, Suite 202, Leesburg, VA 20176, which was the organization responsible for bringing Mrs. Hart home to Leesburg in her final days.