Anne Merrill Sprague  (Age 90)  
Of Burke, VA (formerly of Falls Church, VA and Gilford, NH) passed away peacefully on June 24, 2019. She is survived by her son, James Sprague, daughter, Amy Sprague and husband, Michael Inscoe, daughter, Kelly Sprague and husband, Martin Levin, and five grandsons, Ethan Geary, Patrick and Daniel Levin, and Jonathan and Thomas Inscoe, one great-grandchild, Eloise Geary, and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Robert J. Sprague and daughters, Jan Leslie and Laine Elizabeth.Anne grew up on Paugus Bay, NH, swimming and helping run Merrill's Lakeside Cabins. After graduating from Laconia High School in 1947, Anne attended the University of New Hampshire where she met and married her husband Bob. They traveled the country together for ten years with the USGS, and settled in Falls Church, VA in 1961. Anne had five children between 1952 and 1965. She was a generous and devoted mother and grandmother, an energetic and amusing Girl Scout Leader, and a curious, voracious reader who returned to school to finish an anthropology degree in 1973 at the University of Maryland. Anne enjoyed the opera and theater, and loved to travel with her husband and good friends. She returned faithfully to her camp on Lake Winnipesaukee every summer, never straying far from her New Hampshire roots. She maintained the adventurous, independent and fun-loving spirit that marked her youth there.Anne worked at Marymount College, where she developed the National Elderhostel program, and then at the National Academy of Sciences as an information specialist for the last 10 years of her career. She was active in Virginia Democratic Party politics, working for progressive causes including women's rights, and served on the Fairfax County Commission for the Handicapped.A memorial service will be held on July 20 at Advent, www.adventfuneral.com. Burial service will be held graveside in New Hampshire in late summer. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to or the ACLU.