Obituary of Anne Prosser Lavell

Anne Prosser Lavell Feb. 6, 1927 – April 30, 2018 Goshen, NY Anne Prosser Lavell, a long-time resident of Delaware and Orange Counties, NY, who was a nurse and a devoted Presbyterian Church volunteer, died with her family at her side on April 30, 2018, at Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, NY. She was 91. Anne was born on Feb. 6, 1927, in Goshen, NY, to Arthur Ellis Prosser, a poultry farmer in neighboring Chester, NY, and Katheryn Ball Prosser, a local schoolteacher. After growing up in Chester, where she graduated from high school, she attended Adelphi College (today University), earning a nursing degree. Her early career, which began shortly after the end of World War II, saw her crisscrossing the U.S. for jobs at hospitals in San Francisco; Reno, NV; and New York, where she met and married Dr. Thomas E. Lavell Jr., in 1954. Following more moves across America as her husband's medical career developed, they settled in Walton, NY, where in addition to raising her family in the 1960s and '70s, Anne worked for the local Planned Parenthood branch as well as serving as an elder at the United Presbyterian Church. She moved to Middletown in the 1980s, where in the following decades she worked in mental-health nursing. She was also an elder at Webb Horton Memorial Presbyterian Church and a board member for Stony Ford Foundation Inc., both in Middletown. Even before retiring and eventually moving to Goshen, she also took up travel again, often joining international educational trips for American nurses or visiting her oldest son at his various jobs abroad. Her worldwide voyages brought her to all seven continents, including Antarctica. Other highlights of her adult life include winning a skeet-shooting contest and, in her 60s, solo-piloting a light plane. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by brothers Arthur Prosser and Richard Prosser and, three weeks ago, by her sister Edith Prosser Palmer of Chester. Survivors include her sons, Thomas E. Lavell III, of Frankfurt, Germany; Christopher J. Lavell and wife Cynthia of Goshen; and Patrick J. Lavell and wife Sarah of Pittsford, NY; and daughter Melissa Whipple of Monticello, NY; as well as nine grandchildren. Her brother, Robert Prosser, of Chester, also survives. Memorial Visitation will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 5, 2018, at First Presbyterian Church in Goshen, followed by a Memorial Service at 11:30 am, with burial to follow in Chester Cemetery, Chester, NY. Arrangements under the care of the Donovan Funeral Home, Inc., Goshen. To leave a condolence visit www.donovanfunerals.com