Anna Cook ’05

Anna Clutterbuck-Cook, age 41, died peacefully at her home in Boston, Massachusetts on January 30, 2023, following two years of treatment for cancer. She was surrounded by her family and her two cats — all of whom she loved deeply.

Born in Zeeland, Michigan, March 30, 1981, to Janet and Mark Cook, Anna grew up in Holland where she attended Hope College, majoring in History and Women’s Studies. She spent an off-campus semester at the Oregon Extension and another at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

After graduating in 2005, Anna moved to Boston where she completed master’s degrees in history and information technology at Simmons College. In 2008 she joined the Massachusetts Historical Society staff where she most recently served as Senior Reference Librarian. While at Simmons she met and fell in love with Hanna Clutterbuck, and the two were married in September of 2012.

Anna was a thoughtful and prolific writer, an accomplished knitter and a tireless advocate of equal rights for all marginalized groups. All her life, Anna loved stories. She read them, she wrote them, she listened to them, and she told them. In the wake of her death, the family has been flooded with lovely, moving stories from people she grew up with, and from people she lived and worked with. Anna’s sister, Maggie wrote, “Sometimes I read these notes and it hurts to feel again how unfair losing Anna is, not just for us, but for the world, and sometimes I can read them with the opposite perspective of how lasting her love and impact are.” Anna herself would delight in a story that ends with the love and hope these remembrances express.

Anna is survived her parents and her wife Hanna; siblings Maggie Cook (Caleb) Kerr of Austin, Texas, Brian (Paulina) Cook of Portland, Oregon; a niece, Mia Gonzales Cook; uncle Tim (Linda) Cook of Holland; aunts Carol Cook (Lynn Roberson) of Louisville, Kentucky and Bonnie Ross (Bob Crockett) of Corte Madera, California; cousin Daniel (Jannon) Ross of Riverside, California.