Anne Evenson Ryan

1936-2024

Long time San Diego resident, Anne Evenson Ryan (87), passed away peacefully on New Year’s Day 2024 at Scripps Mercy Hospital, after a one-week battle with pneumonia and sepsis. Anne was born in the same hospital on August 22, 1936 to Beatrice Baker Evenson and Frank Fenelon Evenson of San Diego. Her mother Bea rose to prominence later in her life as a dynamic civic activist, establishing Spanish Landing Park along N. Harbor Drive, thereby curtailing the city’s existing plan of an expanded sewage treatment plant in that location. Soon after, she became co-founder of the Committee of 100, which became the driving force in renovating and preserving the Spanish Colonial style buildings of Balboa Park, which were on the brink of demolition by the city.

Her father, Frank, a lumberman from coastal Oregon, founded American Mill and Manufacturing on E. Harbor Drive.

Anne was raised in the Mission Hills area of San Diego, along with her older brothers, William and David Evenson. From an early age, she developed a lifelong passion for animals, particularly horses. While Anne had no sisters, she was very fond of her cousin Lynn Evenson, with whom she would share her love of horseback riding throughout her life. Receiving a horse of her own at the age 8, Anne and Lynn would often ride their horses from Lynn’s father’s stables in Mission Valley, exploring all of the then wild domain of the San Diego River Valley, amongst nothing but dairy farms.

In addition to her riding, Anne enjoyed all kinds of water sports. Spending summers on and around San Diego Bay at the San Diego Yacht Club (where her father was Commodore in 1951). She enjoyed sailing on the family’s boat, but the moment her life was changed forever was the day an older boy at the Club named Jerry Ryan offered to teach her to waterski behind his motorboat. They began dating and the rest is history. Anne had attended Francis Parker school and graduated from Point Loma High. Accepted at Stanford, she chose Pomona College (to be closer to Jerry) that she attended two years before deciding to get married. On December 27, 1956 Anne and Jerry were married at Point Loma Community Presbyterian Church, where they became members and raised their five children.

While Jerry worked as an aeronautical engineer for his father (and San Diego aviation pioneer), T. Claude Ryan (whose company-built Lindberg’s “Spirit of St. Louis”), Anne stayed home and raised their five children. She and Jerry spent summers with the kids aboard their family sailboat at Catalina Island. In addition to enjoying the languid vibe of the ocean, Anne, like her parents, really found tranquility in the stark and rugged beauty of the desert. She and Jerry, along with their children, spent many vacations camping along the desert banks of the Colorado River, along with their lifelong dear friends, Tom and Jane Fetter and their children. Anne’s stunning beauty belied her spunky, independent nature. These weren’t “glamping” trips. She was more comfortable “roughing it”. Her strong “tomboy” streak, for example, had her shoveling horse manure on the same day she later appeared, all dolled up, for the Rady Children’s Charity Ball that evening. Having first learned to drive operating a tractor, it’s not surprising her longtime, daily-driver vehicle was a first-generation Chevy Suburban, powered by a stick-shift truck transmission. She had Jerry,

who is very handy mechanically, install three novelty horns, including an “ahooga” horn, a clapper bell, and a wolf-whistle. It’s no wonder that she was the “fun mom” all her boys’ middle school friends wanted to transport them.

Throughout her life, Anne’s love for animals didn’t stop at horses. She loved dogs! Beyond pets, the many dogs that she had through the years became extensions of who she was. But, of course, her menagerie wasn’t limited to canines. Over the years her “animal family” included a crow (Reuben) a raven (Poe), rabbits, rats, chickens, ducks, a goose, desert tortoises, parrots, and cockatoo! Reuben (the crow) was even featured in the National Enquirer. There was even a calf born where she boarded her horses on her daughter’s birthday, that she “adopted”. One day she drove the cute bovine in the back of an SUV from Ramona to her Point Loma neighborhood, where she walked it up and down the city streets on a leash like a dog. The calf spent the night in her back yard. The short-lived stay was abruptly ended by a knock at the front door the next morning by the County Health Department.

More than just an animal-lover, Anne had an insatiable intellectual curiosity. She was fascinated by every element of nature, and the natural world from ancient civilizations to the cosmos, and from art and music to horticulture and politics. In addition, she loved discussions involving the unseen metaphysical realm, in which she strongly believed. So, it’s not surprising she was enthralled with alternative medicine and the ancient Eastern medicine healing arts.

Anne was also a dedicated philanthropist. Through the family foundation, she and Jerry arranged a lead gift to rename the Peninsula YMCA in honor of Jerry’s parents, becoming the Ryan Family YMCA. She also personally supported “Heifer International which provides hunger relief in Africa. She was a member of several philanthropic clubs as well, the Junior League of San Diego, the Wednesday Club and Klee Wyck Society (auxiliary to Balboa Park’s Museum of Man).

Anne was preceded in death by her son Larry Ryan. She is survived by her husband of 67 years Jerry (91) and her children Dr. David Ryan (Maribel), Mickey Ryan (Christi), Tomas Ryan (Jessica) and Amy Ryan. Her Legacy continues through her grandchildren Anthony, Michelle, Holly, Michael, Mick, Sierra, Christopher and Josh.

As we say goodbye to Anne, we celebrate the love that she had for us all. She will be deeply missed.