Anne Hauberg

A chance to read her like a book

These days, if you ask Anne Hauberg a question about her past, she will likely refer you to the new book "Anne Gould Hauberg: Fired by Beauty" by Barbara Johns (University of Washington Press; $40).

Influenced by her father, prominent Seattle architect Carl Gould, Anne has been a newsmaker and major influence in Seattle's cultural life for much of her 88 years. She is beloved for her generosity to artists and her downright tenacity: Anne has a way of making things happen. With her former husband, the late John Hauberg, she was the driving force behind the Experimental Education Unit at the University of Washington, now part of a premier research and education facility for developmental disorders, the Center for Human Development and Disability. The Haubergs also co-founded Pilchuck Glass School with Dale Chihuly.

We talked with art historian Johns, a former chief curator at Tacoma Art Museum and former director of Pilchuck, about her subject.

Q: What will Hauberg be most remembered for?

A: Three things. Her support of artists — she believes in the creative spirit, the way that artists think and see possibilities that others may not. Her civic activism in the '60s around freeway construction and historic preservation. And her work for education for people with mental disabilities.

Q: I've been acquainted with Hauberg for a long time, but your book revealed a lot about her I had never heard.

A: I told the UW Press in the beginning that I wasn't interested in a vanity publication, and I'm grateful that the press and Anne and her family supported that position.

Q: One of Hauberg's two daughters and a son had developmental disabilities. There were few resources to help families cope with that in the 1950s.

A: Anne talks about how lonely it was when Sue and Mark were born, and that there was no help whatsoever. Her emphasis on the loneliness of those years was impressive.

Q: Anne also struggled with bipolar disorder, which was poorly understood at the time. What kept her going?

A: I concluded how central her family has been to her life. She is extremely proud of her two daughters, Fay and Sue. But she also buried two stillborn babies and a toddler, her son. I kept returning to all the losses and came to see that her activity was a way to reinforce her courage and her optimism. I am amazed at how optimistic she remains.