Anne C. Stradling has been recognized posthumously as a ‘Woman in History ‘by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Lady Banksia Chapter (Tombstone).
A ceremony to commemorate the distinction was held Oct. 5 in the Patagonia Park. Plaques acknowledging the honor were presented to German Quiroga, Patagonia Historical Society, and Carrie White, Bowman-Stradling History Center, Sonoita.
“Anne has made, and continues to make, a positive global impact by preserving the past when she donated artifacts to the Hubbard Museum of the American West and providing for the future through the Anne C. Stradling Equine Foundation,” said DAR member Debbie McWhorter of Benson.
Stradling, who died in 1992, spent some 30 years in Patagonia with her third husband, Floyd Stradling.
Originally from New Jersey, Anne was born in 1913, the daughter of Kenneth Baker Schley and Ellen Habersham Rogers. Family money came from Rogers Locomotive and Bethlehem Steel. Kenneth was also president of the New Jersey Far Hills Hunt Club.
But Stradling rejected her society ties, preferring a rough-and-tumble Western lifestyle.
She did not, however, relinquish the money that comes with privilege. In 1960 she opened the Museum of the Horse in Patagonia and in 1969 financed the construction of the Stage Stop Inn.
While the Museum of the Horse closed in 1985— the majority of its contents went to the Hubbard Museum of the American West in Ruidoso, N.M.—her legend continues in her adopted hometown.
“She was one of the dearest people I ever met,” said Lucy Mihalik of Patagonia in a 2017 PRT article written by Bob Brandt. She chuckled, he wrote, recalling Anne inviting her and husband Paul to the Stradling home “for a little snort.”
During the Oct. 5 ceremony, other local residents gave remembrances of a colorful woman who, along with husband Floyd, is interred at the Patagonia Cemetery.