Obituary

Florence “Anne” Canterbury, 86, passed away peacefully on June 9, 2025, in Charleston, with family at her side.

Born in Huntington to William Edward Canterbury and Florence Anna (Haught) Canterbury, she had three siblings: Helen Westneat, Billy Canterbury and Tommy Canterbury.

A nature lover, Anne raised her seven children to be the same, camping with them throughout beautiful West Virginia and many states beyond. She kayaked at her beloved Cape Hatteras, the Greenbrier River and Anthony Creek. Shooting the rapids in the spring at Anthony Creek was no problem, she would say, but “there are just a few spots where you have to duck under a cow fence to avoid getting decapitated.”

Iconoclastic, spontaneous and passionate, she was unconstrained by convention, whether jumping over the wall of the San Francisco Botanical Garden to wander the grounds after hours, or when, walking back from Blue Bend lookout, she suddenly declared that everyone should blaze their own trail, hightailing it down the hill and leaving the road behind, weaving through briars and cow pastures.

She earned her nursing degree from Morris Harvey College in Charleston and spent decades taking care of patients with her caring hands and heart. She studied homeopathy and natural medicine, making tinctures from plants she had grown herself or collected from the nearby woods, and teaching workshops on the healing properties of herbs in Greenbrier County.

She was an avid gardener, planting her hillside with hundreds of apple trees, raspberry canes, and much more. She loved all wildlife creatures, especially the deer and bears that roamed her property in Renick, WV. Unconcerned when one of the bears pounded on her kitchen door, she scared it away with an air horn, telling overnight guests not to answer any late knocking. She loved her bears and the mountaintop home she insisted she’d never leave – that is, not unless aliens landed and took her away.

Anne was preceded in death by her parents, her three siblings, and her beloved granddaughter Cyan Maroney. Anne is survived by her children Kellie Beeson (the late David Beeson), Patrick Maroney (Donna), Michael Maroney (Dinga Wooling), Kathryn Morris (John), Eileen Maroney, Tom Maroney (Scott Kaller), and Annie McMillion (Gary), her sister-in-law Janet Canterbury and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

A private family service will be held at a later date, when her ashes will be scattered in Greenbrier County.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests enjoying a glass of fresh, extra tart lemonade (the way Anne liked it) and planting a garden of everything you love. Donations in her name may be made to The Greenbrier River Watershed Association at wordpress.greenbrier.org/join-us/donate .

Condolences may be sent to her family at www.barlowbonsall.com.

Barlow Bonsall Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements