Community honors an ‘inspiration’ at Anne Springs Close memorial on her SC greenway
On a hot August afternoon, hundreds of people descended on the Anne Springs Close Greenway Sunday to swap stories, shed some tears and fondly remember the woman that the 2,100-acre outdoor landmark was named after.
Anne Springs Close, matriarch of the Springs family in South Carolina that has held strong ties in politics, business, philanthropy and the community for decades, died Friday at age 95. She was injured three days earlier by a falling tree limb on the family’s Fort Mill property, where Close lived almost her whole life.
Close was involved in local education, conservation and philanthropy. But she was perhaps best known for founding the greenway, which opened in 1995, in Fort Mill near the North Carolina border. Sunday’s hour-long memorial service was held at the greenway’s Comporium Amphitheater.
An hour before the memorial started, nearly a hundred people had already gathered, sitting on blankets and lawn chairs, fanning themselves with sheet music handed out by volunteers. Dozens of yellow, orange and red flowers flanked the stage.
Barry Leonard, who worked for the family’s Springs Industries for 20 years, sat on the concrete path near the front of the stage. The Charlotte man called Close “an amazing lady.”
“Whatever I had done, she had already done,” he said, laughing. “I ran the New York City Marathon. She said ‘Barry, I’ve already done that.’ My son and I summited Mount Kilimanjaro. She said, ‘Oh by the way, I did that three times.’ ”
He teared up.
“She’s a true environmentalist and has been such an influence and inspiration to so many here, (as well as) in North Carolina and honestly, worldwide,” Leonard said.
Having an impact
Several family members, sitting near the front of the stage, wiped tears away as the opening hymn played. A soft rain fell.
Her family spoke of how Close had a significant impact on the people in and around York County.
“If you were blessed to be her friend, no matter who you were, what station in life you came from, rich or poor, young or old, Black, brown or white, you couldn’t have a better friend,” said Close’s son-in-law, Erskine Bowles, who also was chief of staff for President Bill Clinton. “Just ask... the person sitting on your right or left.”
Bowles said Close was always giving to others. He noted she had donated the land for the greenway, which has more than 40 miles of trails, waterways and natural habitats for plants and animals, that is now used for recreation and outdoor activities.
“Can you imagine? She gave it away,” Bowles said. “And who did she give it to? She gave it to all of us. And she gave it to us forever.”
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster sat in the back row of chairs sectioned off for family and friends. Close’s son Buck Close said his mother had a vision for what her memorial would look like.
He said he wished every person in the crowd who had been impacted by Close could speak. “My mother had one fear about this event, and it was that it might go on too long,” he said.
The crowd laughed.
“That’s why we can’t have everyone who would like to talk about her come up,” he said. “My mother had a major impact on many of us.”
A sense of humor to the end
Close’s son-in-law Christopher Buckley said Close had a great sense of humor — even in her last days.
“After being fatally wounded on Monday by that blankety blank pecan tree, she remarked in the emergency room, ‘I saved one too many trees,’ ” he said.
Close also would do anything for her family, Bowles said.
Once, she even tried to chase away a bear with a broomstick from a cabin where her grandchildren were. “You can’t do that if you ain’t tough,” Bowles said. Her family laughed.
‘She did not miss a beat’
Before the service began, Bryan Brock said he’s known the Close family for years after coaching Close’s great-grandson in baseball. Close’s eldest grandson is also one of Brock’s assistant coaches.
“She loved baseball,” Brock said.
“She did not miss a beat,” Brock’s mother, Esther Brock, added. “If the ump made a bad call, we heard about it.”
Community ties
Close was a frequent fixture on the greenway. She walked in the woods around her house and on the greenway paths every day for more than 90 years, Buckley said, holding back tears.
“Later in her life when her eyesight failed, she would still not give up this habit,” Buckley said. “It was only after a number of very painful falls that she agreed to limit that activity to times when someone could accompany her.”
Close’s influence extended well beyond the greenway too.
Throughout the 1990s, the Springs and Close families had several textile mills in York, Chester and Lancaster counties, which employed tens of thousands of local workers when mills across the South were closing because of cheaper materials, production costs and labor in foreign countries.
The mills closed by the 2000s, but the family company, Leroy Springs & Co., kept its headquarters in Fort Mill.
The family also kept about 4,000 acres in the 1990s for development in fast-growing Fort Mill, which eventually grew into the Baxter and Kingsley retail and commercial areas near Interstate 77.
Among the more unusual aspects of her life, Close was the last living person to have crossed the Atlantic on the German airship Hindenburg, according to the greenway.
Close was preceded in death by her husband, Bill Close, her brother Sonny Springs and her daughter Monnie McKee Reed. Survivors include eight children, 28 grandchildren and two dozen great-grandchildren.
Close and her legacy
Sharon Cooper and Nora Gaulden, who both work for Close’s son Derick Close at Springs Creative Products in Rock Hill, settled into their lawn chairs at the greenway for the memorial.
“Ms. Close never put herself first,” Cooper said. “She put everybody else before herself.”
Cooper said Close’s legacy will be carried on for years through her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“There’s so many people here because she was well known,” Cooper said. “Everybody loved her. Everybody loves the Close family and what they’ve done for the community.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2021 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Community honors an ‘inspiration’ at Anne Springs Close memorial on her SC greenway."
