Obit: Anna ‘Patty Duke’ Pearce, 69

Friends, family and fellow actors mourned the loss of Patty Duke on Tuesday after the Oscar-winner and Coeur d’Alene resident died at the age of 69. Duke was remembered as a caring, “regular” person and a strong advocate for people dealing with mental illness after sharing her own experiences with bipolar disorder. To the surprise of her friends, she left Los Angeles in 1990 to live in North Idaho, where she volunteered her time for multiple causes, worked in local theater and made deep community connections.

“I found here the ability to have a conversation with someone in the supermarket or in a car lot that had nothing to do with anything but the grapes we were buying or the car we were looking at,” Duke told The Spokesman-Review in 2005. “I let the word out that I preferred to be called Anna, and soon acquaintances were calling me Anna. It was as if I was seeking roots, and they were willing to give some”/ Becky Kramer & Jonathan Brunt , SR. More here.