ANNABELLE RUTH PRINGLE  SILVESTER (Age 93)  
Annabelle slipped away peacefully on Sunday, June 23, 2019 at Garden Ridge Assisted Living in Springfield, VA. The youngest of five, born and raised on the plains of South Dakota in the 1920s and 30s, Annabelle came from humble beginnings. When the hardships of farming in the dustbowl became too much, her father moved his family to Deadwood, in the Black Hills, where employment was found in the Homestake Gold Mine. Graduating from Deadwood High in 1944, Annabelle left home and made her way to Seattle where she found employment with Boeing Aircraft. It was during the postwar years at Boeing that she met the dashing young Air Force test pilot that she would marry in 1952 after a long-distance courtship. As an Air Force wife, she followed her husband throughout his career and raised two boys in the midst of frequent moves, with postings in Ohio, Washington, DC, New Mexico, New Hampshire, California, Nebraska, Virginia, and Hawaii. Settling in Northern Virginia upon her husband's retirement, she is especially remembered for entertaining friends and relatives and opening up her home to her sons' friends. To many she became like a second mother. As the Silvester matriarch, she was a great storyteller and conversationalist. Never afraid to express her opinion or give advice, she often entertained her kids, grandkids, relatives, and anyone else who would listen with tales of growing up on the plains, or her experience as a military wife, or just Life according to Annabelle. Throughout her life, Annabelle never forgot her meager beginnings or her South Dakota roots. Strong, frugal, self-educated, adaptable and independent, she promoted good manners, private education, Scouts, multiplication tables, swimming lessons and an ever-improving vocabulary. Annabelle was preceded in death by her husband Colonel Lindsey M. (Sy) Silvester, USAF, her grandson Martin Scott Silvester, and her four siblings Robert, Edward, Frances, and Donald. She is survived by her sons, Lindsey M. (Mac) Silvester, CAPT. USNR (Diane), and Scott O. Silvester, CPT., US Army (Mary Kay Martin); four grandchildren, Alex Owen Silvester (Amanda), Laura Silvester Yox (Keith), Amy Silvester Clark (Charley), and Scott P. Silvester, CPT., US Army; and two great grandchildren, Samantha and Trey. A memorial service and interment with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery will be at a later date.