Anne Elizabeth (Ewing) Nixon

Jan. 23, 1946 – Feb. 9, 2020

Former Halibut Cove and Homer resident Anne Nixon died Feb. 9, 2020 in Nelson, British Columbia after a difficult battle with cancer.

Born Jan. 23, 1946 in Calgary, Alberta, Anne finished high school, then completed a degree in physical therapy at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. After graduation, she traveled and worked as a physiotherapist internationally, including in Alaska.

While traveling through Alaska in 1971, Anne was on the M/V Tustumena when it docked in Homer. Dave Nixon, then port manager, met the ferry, tied it up, met Anne and tied her up at the altar the following January. They soon moved to Halibut Cove, where they would live a simple, creative lifestyle until Dave’s death in 1998.

Anne founded and ran Wilderness Gardens Day Spa from 1999 until she left Alaska to return to Canada in 2018. She will be remembered fondly for having a flair for dressing up and making her own creations, as a potter who studied with the masters who were in and out of the Cove, as a ham radio operator, and in recent years, as a musician. Anne loved her violin. In the fall, when she did a “walk-about,” she took her violin (and her .357) with her religiously.

She will be remembered gratefully as a zealous volunteer. For years she provided the National Weather Service with the local statistics from a station set up in her yard in the Cove. After moving to the Homer side finally, she donated a lot of her time to the senior centers as a physical therapist and aesthetician.

Anne is survived by her sister, Helen Webber (Garnet) of Prince George, British Columbia; brother, Douglas Ewing (Mary Ann) of Wanganui, New Zealand; and step-son Tim Nixon (Betsy) of Kenai, Alaska.