Anne Toft

     Anne Toft of Estes Park and Littleton passed away on July 27 at Columbine Memory Care in Littleton. Georgia Anne Griffith was born on February 13,1932 to Charles Leslie Griffith (Estes Park) and Sarah Greenacre Griffith (Fort Collins). Her parents were University of Colorado students who met in Estes Park where her mother worked for the Craig Hotel. Anne’s family lived in a rustic cabin on the Grand Lake side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Her father, a civil engineer, worked as a rock mason on Trail Ridge Road.

     The Griffith family moved to Denver where her father worked for the D&RG Railroad. Anne and her brother, Richard, attended Washington Elementary School. In World War II her family moved to the territory of Alaska when her father took a job working for the Alaska Railroad. The town of Anchorage had a population of 5000 with Army and Air Force bases close to the town of Anchorage.

     Anne was on a skating team and learned to ski. She was the valedictorian of her 1950 Anchorage HS class. After graduation she attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California where she met and married Richard Fair Walz. They lived in Alaska while Richard was serving in the Army after graduation. The family moved back to California and eventually bought a home in Arcadia. Her husband worked as a civil engineer building California highways.

     In the 1960s the family moved to Englewood, CO when her husband’s job became the building of I-70 over Vail Pass. Anne’s family moved to Littleton in the 1970s. She then began her career as an accountant with the Sheridan School District and worked for Denver oil companies. She had beautiful handwriting and meticulous printing skills.

     Her children remember their mother as a school volunteer, sewing her daughters’ clothes, Blue Bird Leader, working at the election polls on voting days, taking her children to swim lessons, water ballet class, and cotillion (formal dance lessons), dog training, and her garden at Arcadia. Their mother basically cooked all their meals at home. (Her children can only remember going out to eat a couple of times).

     Anne grew up with the many animals of Rocky Mountain National Park. She loved and trained her dogs, cats, and made sure the birds were fed. She even rescued a baby squirrel during an ice storm using a doll’s bottle to feed and nurse it back to health.

     In the mid 1970s she married Charles Toft. The couple enjoyed Round Dancing with a large group of friends. After they both retired Anne and Chuck used their pickup camper to explore the many national parks in the United States, even driving to Alaska to visit Anne’s sister, brother, and childhood friends.

     Anne is survived by her son Michael (Nancy) Walz, Littleton, CO, Janet (Arne) Skaugset Eugene, OR, and Sharon (Sherri) Walz, Estacada, OR , grandchildren Eric (Melissa) Skaugset, Vancouver, Canada, Kari Preston, Eugene, OR , Kirsten (Taylor) Campbell, Estacada. OR, and Andrew (Haley) Walz, Littleton, CO, great grandchildren Thomas and Micah Skaugset, Malcolm and Julia Preston, Colton Campbell, and Emma Walz, brother Richard Griffith and sister Norma Hannon, AK.

Anne will be buried with her husband, Charles Toft, at the Fort Logan Military Cemetery in Denver.