Anne M. Campbell, longtime resident of New Castle, Delaware, passed away Monday, March 3, 2025. She was 73. Our beloved sister, aunt and friend will be sorely missed.

Anne was born on July 23, 1951 in Atlanta to Lloyd H. and Doris F. Sheep. She was a middle child with an older brother Lloyd and younger sister Susan. Her dad was a metallurgical engineer in the booming aluminum industry and took his growing, young family through Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Illinois and Connecticut before finally settling in Ohio again for the kids' high school years.

During those early years, Anne negotiated always being the 'new kid' in school and developed an independent, practical streak that became her lifelong signature style. She discovered horseback riding in Connecticut and worked in the neighbor's barn so she could ride. She occasionally rode horses bareback in the pond behind the family home, much to the consternation of her worried father. In the picturesque Ohio river town of Marietta, a high school neighborhood friend and her riverboat captain dad introduced Anne to the world of sternwheelers. Anne was enchanted and spent summers working as a riverboat cruise waitress.

After graduating from Ohio State, Anne took a job at the venerable Mills Cafeteria in Columbus, rising to become GM of that downtown institution. While there, a tall, rail-thin regular customer named Bill Campbell caught her eye and eventually her heart. They married and lived in Columbus while he worked at Rockwell International as a jet engine machinist. Eventually, Bill retired from Rockwell and took Anne to a family home he inherited in Historic New Castle. They resided there as a couple until Bill's death in 1992.

By then, Anne had come to love her New Castle home, built in 1925, and carefully restored it inside and out. Her small backyard garden was a paradise of flowers and shrubs. She became a proud 'cat lady," caring for up to five felines at a time. She loved the village life, working at a local Italian meat market, then walking home, dropping off packages of special-order cuts to grandmothers and getting paid with home-cooked meals. Anne also worked at the old Brosius-Eliason lumber company and then volunteered at the local SPCA that subsequently moved into that address. She later worked in the back office of the Nucar auto dealership in New Castle and became their inhouse expert for the special preferences of senior citizen customers. Anne liked to hit the Atlantic City casinos with friends to play the slots on a strict $50 budget. She especially loved the marshes and wetlands of the Delaware River and delighted in back country road trips to explore Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Anne slipped and broke her hip just before Christmas in 2024. Following surgery and rehab, she flew to convalesce at her brother's house in Texas. However, Anne quickly succumbed to complications from severe diabetes and end stage renal disease. She is survived by her sister Susan Kupchella and husband David, brother Lloyd Sheep and wife Carol, brother-in-law Charles Campbell and too many other nephews and nieces to list here. The family extends special thanks to Lynn Ferris, Rick Brittingham and Rosie Hickman for their caring friendship with Anne throughout the years. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Ramsey Funeral Home & Crematorium, Georgetown TX, where online condolences may be offered to the family by visiting www.RamseyFuneral.com. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Brandywine Valley SPCA.