Anne Shirley McCartney Powell, 89, died Friday, July 9, 2010 at her home in Fairhope.
She was born April 16, 1921 in Chicago, to Paul McCartney and Eileen Marie Murphy. After high school, she completed business college and worked in downtown Chicago while pursuing journalism courses at Northwestern University.
Wanting to contribute to the war effort, she obtained a job at a munitions factory in Joliet, Ill., where she met her future husband, Robert Webster Powell. The couple and their growing family eventually settled in Sayville, N.Y., where they lived from 1947 to 1980, when they retired to Fairhope.
While on Long Island, she worked at Dowling College and exercised her artistic talents. With a gift for works and a knack for storytelling, which she inherited from her Irish grandfather, she published a number of short stories. A gracious hostess, she contributed to lasting memories and frequent family fatherings of her far-flung clan.
She was preceded in death by her devoted husband of 67 years, Bob Powell; and a brother, Bud.
Survivors include seven children, Anne Nealon Sauer and Mary Holloway Powell, both of Indianapolis; Robert Webster Powell Jr. and John Keife Powell, both of Fairhope; Mark Dillon Powell of Tallahassee, Fla., Luke Peyton Powell of Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H., and Melissa Powell Merritt of Mercer Island, Wash.; and 13 grandchildren.
