Anne Pettus
Anne Mish Pettus, age 98, slipped away peacefully on March 14, 2023, in the comfort of her home at Sunrise of Stamford. She was not alone, which was very important to her. Anne was born on November 23, 1924, in Jersey City, New Jersey and moved to Stamford, as a preschooler where her father, Peter Shawinsky was a deacon and choir master for the Ukrainian church. Her mother Anastasia Korda Shawinsky was a loving mother of five, Anne being the youngest of siblings Joseph, Peter, Teresa and Rose Shawinsky. Anne married her teenage sweetheart, John Mish, upon his return from WWII in 1945. They were married for 60 years before he predeceased her. In 2006 she married Robert Pettus of (Rowayton, CT) who passed away in 2015.
Anne is best known for her love of people and her caring nature. She had an exciting and successful career in the Western Union telegraph office during the war, and later also as a Cracker Jack sales representative for Visa credit cards. However, her number one job was always that of a loving caregiver. First, while just a teenager during the Great Depression, she helped to raise her nephew, then tended to two ailing parents, raised two children, spread love and joy to her two grandchildren and cared for her two beloved husbands. She loved the beach and spent many happy hours beachcombing and collecting sea glass on Long Island Sound and shells on Sanibel Island, Florida. Anne spent the last years of her life at Sunrise of Stamford, where she was an ambassador for new residents.
She is survived by her two children, John B. Mish, Jr. of New Milford, Connecticut, and Laurie Anne Manos of Harpswell, Maine and her two grandsons, Nicholas John Manos and Andreas George Manos.
Family and friends may call at the Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Myrtle Avenue, Stamford on Friday, March 31, 2023, from 4 to 8 p.m. On Saturday, April 1, 2023, a funeral mass will take place at 10 a.m. in St Mary’s Catholic Church, 566 Elm Street, Stamford. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to St. Mary’s Church in Stamford, or to the Ukrainian Red Cross.