Amanda Willard

Amanda Wells Willard

Robinson, PA resident Amanda Willard passed away at her home on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. She had been struggling with an illness since March. Spending summers growing up in Harrisonburg, VA in the family’s beloved Shenandoah Valley, she attended Mary Baldwin in Staunton, VA. Focused on a career in politics, Ms. Willard worked in Washington, DC for former WV Congressman Ken Hechler, and later for former WV Governor Jay Rockefeller on the 1968 Robert F. Kennedy Youth Vote effort, organizing fundraisers featuring music groups (notably Chicago and The Band) of the time. Ms. Willard located to Pittsburgh where, as a passionate basketball fan, she met and married former Duquesne University hoopstar Ron Willard. Together they appreciated traveling, music and movies. In 1987, she joined her sister at Ad1 Partners as creative writer, working on campaigns for Jim Ferlo, Tom Murphy, Jack Wagner, and Jim Roddey. About Ms. Willard, her sister noted, “Her distinct sense of self, wit, intellect, and unwavering faith are an inspiration. I emulate her writing style and ability to convey the most mundane thought with humor or panache. She was a wordsmith extraordinaire and a beautiful, loving sister with an indisputable iron will. She lived and departed in her own manner with the code ‘Not for time, but for eternity.’” Preceding Ms. Willard in death: her cherished husband Ronald D. Willard, and her mother Jeanne T. Garman and husband George G. Garman. Among those mourning Amanda’s passing are her sister, Mariellen Garman Ramsdell and brother-in-law Paul C. Ramsdell of Wexford, loving friend Ramona Pirain Dryer of Wexford, and cousin Harriet Tucker of Huntington, WV. The family suggests gestures of sympathy be made as charitable donations to The Boswell Stray & Wild Animal Fund, c/o VCA Fox Chapel Animal Hospital, 1152 Freeport Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15238.