Former Mayor, BCC Professor
1935 - 2014
PITTSFIELD On Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, Anne Everest Wojtkowski passed away at her home, 85 Ridge Avenue, surrounded by her loving family. Born in Pittsfield on Jan. 10, 1935, she was one of four children of Alfred Wallace and Mary Anne (Hickey) Everest. Her elder siblings, Daniel Lyman Everest and Mary Wallace Everest Bocking predeceased her. Surviving is her younger brother, Alfred Wallace Everest Jr. Anne was a 1952 graduate of Pittsfield High School. She went on to study at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and became the first woman to enter the engineering program at Boston University, from which she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956. She began her career at the Cambridge consulting firm, Arthur D. Little, where she was primarily engaged in the theoretical and experimental evaluation and development of thermal protection systems for use at extreme high and low temperatures. Anne was the first woman engineer the firm ever hired. On July 21, 1962, Anne married Thomas C. Wojtkowski, then a Massachusetts State Representative. They had two children: Thomas Jr., who became a mechanical engineer, and Marcella, a surgeon. After her marriage, Anne moved back to Pittsfield to raise her young family. In 1969 she began teaching at Berkshire Community College. By the time Anne retired as Professor of Engineering and Mathematics in 2004 she had taught over thirty different courses in engineering, physics, mathematics, computer programming and energy. In 1983, Anne joined with Professor Karen Canfield Border to initiate a sex bias suit against BCC's administration, alleging lack of promotional and pay equity. Anne's successful analysis of pay discrimination led the Massachusetts Teachers Association to join the suit and expand it to include female faculty and professionals in all Massachusetts community colleges. The settlement of this suit in 1992 for $10.6 million was deemed "the largest settlement of its kind in Massachusetts and a major step nationally in the battle for equal treatment of women in the workplace." (Berkshire Eagle, 2 Oct. 1992) In 1965, Anne began her many years of public service when she was appointed to the Pittsfield Post Office Commission, which recommended the conversion of the old facility into the present City Hall. The next year, she was appointed to the Pittsfield Planning Board and Capital Outlay Committee, serving for three years. Then in 1967 she was the city's top vote-getter when she was elected to the first at-large School Committee. Anne served two four-year terms, stepping down in 1976. She led the effort to create an early childhood education program. Set up in 1970, the program is still in existence the second oldest public school program of its type in the nation. From 1970 to 1978, Anne chaired the School Building Needs Commission, which oversaw the complete renovation of Pittsfield High School. This project, the most complex public project ever undertaken by the City of Pittsfield, was budgeted at $9 million ($20 million today) and was completed in 1977, six months ahead of schedule. In November 1987, Anne was the first woman to be elected mayor of Pittsfield. Taking a leave of absence from BCC, she served two terms, leaving office in January 1992. While mayor, Anne faced many crises including a major economic downturn statewide and the aftereffects of the pullout of General Electric from Pittsfield, both of which threatened the financial stability of the city. Anne worked hard to keep Pittsfield city government solvent through very close supervision of budgets and active pursuit of government grants. In the absence of GE, she also pursued the rebuilding of Pittsfield's economic viability. One aspect of these efforts was Berkshire Enterprises, an entrepreneurial training program, which she co-founded. By 2013, more than 1300 people had gone through the program, and more than 850 businesses had been assisted in starting up generating about $35 million a year in gross revenues and creating more than 1100 jobs. As part of her efforts to revitalize downtown Pittsfield, Anne enabled the acquisition and conversion of the old Capitol Theatre on North Street; reopened as a senior center in 1993, the building now serves as a hub for Pittsfield's older citizens. The project also demolished other derelict buildings and created much-needed parking. Another effort to spark new interest in the city's downtown was Anne's early advocacy of the restoration of the Colonial Theatre. Although the state's financial condition prevented her from achieving this goal while mayor, after she left office she joined with Robert Boland and others in the Friends of the Colonial Theatre Restoration and later the Colonial Theatre Association to bring the project to fruition in September 2006. Anne also was involved in the effort to place historic Wahconah Park on the National Registry of Historic Places, which was achieved in 2004. From 1986 to 1998, Anne was a member of the Berkshire Business & Professional Women's Association. From 1997 to 2000, she was President of the Berkshire Historical Society, having already served three years as Vice President and Treasurer. She also served on many boards of trustees/directors, including those of Berkshire County Savings Bank, Berkshire Medical Center, the Colonial Theatre Association and the Adirondack Public Observatory. Anne was the recipient of many honors over the years, including the Woman of the Year Award from the Berkshire Business and Professional Women's Association, 1985; the Massachusetts Woman of the Year from the Massachusetts Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, 1985; the Society of Women Engineers Outstanding Women in Engineering Award, 1988; the Boston University College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to Her Community, 1991; and the Berkshire Community College President's Award, 1999. In addition to numerous technical papers written while she worked for Arthur D. Little, Anne was the author of four books: Pittsfield Public Schools, A Study in Contrasts (1972), which documented the short and long range school building needs of the city; Computer Programming in BASIC, used as a classroom text at BCC from 1977 to 1983; Porcelain and Pottery Shoes (2004), a ground-breaking and authoritative study of over 1,200 collectible shoes of the 19th and early 20th centuries; and, with Robert Boland, Jeffry Bradway and William Munn, History of the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (2014), a comprehensive study of Pittsfield's 1903 gem from the heyday of American theater construction. At her death she was engaged in four other book projects: a second volume on porcelain and pottery shoes; a study of the embroidered linens produced by Marghab Ltd. on the island of Madeira from 1932 to 1978; a life of Civil War General William Francis Bartlett; and a history of the Everest family. In her younger years, Anne loved to sail, first on her beloved Pontoosuc Lake and later as one of the first three women allowed onto the Boston University Sailing Team. After returning to Pittsfield, she became an ace bridge player. In her later years, Anne enjoyed antiquing and traveled all through New England in that pursuit. After retirement, Anne renewed an early fascination with football and avidly followed the fortunes of her favorite team, the New England Patriots. Anne is survived by Thomas, her beloved husband of fifty-two years; by her son Thomas Jr. of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, his wife, Cathleen, and their daughter Lauren; and by her daughter, Marcella, of Pittsfield, her husband, Jeffry Bradway, and their sons, Benjamin and Jonathan; by her brother, A. Wallace Everest of Marblehead, Mass., and his wife, Christine; and by many nieces and nephews.

FUNERAL NOTICE: Funeral services will be held Friday, Oct. 17, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. at Saint Charles Church, celebrated by the Rev. Peter A. Gregory, pastor. Burial will follow at Saint Joseph's Cemetery. Calling hours at DERY FUNERAL HOME, 54 Bradford St., Pittsfield, will be Thursday from 3 - 7 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Thomas C. & Anne Everest Wojtkowski Scholarship at Berkshire Community College - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/berkshire/obituary.aspx?n=anne-wojtkowski&pid=172803881#sthash.Ed0RaCM4.dpuf

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