Ramsey Library

Annie Miller Pless
 

Mother, Wife, Heroine, Civic volunteer,
Marion, N.C.

Annie Miller Pless was born in Charleston, S.C and was married to James William Pless, Sr., a successful western North Carolina lawyer and former mayor of Brevard, NC and Marion NC. She came to western North Carolina following her marriage to Pless. She was an accomplished musician --- a pianist and a singer whose solo voice was heard in Charleston at Trinity, St. Michael's and the Huguenot churches in Charleston. She was the daughter of John Henry Miller and Mary Josehine Burie Miller of Charleston. Always proud of her adventurous heritage, Annie Miller's grandmother was Ann Amesbury, an Englishwoman who was first to fly the English Channel in a balloon

After her marriage, Annie served in many capacities for social causes. She served as the State Treasurer of the N.C. Division United Daughters of the Confederacy during WWI and was appointed by North Carolina Governor Bickett to serve on State Board of Public Welfare for three years. She later was appointed to serve on the Cullowhee Board of Directors by then Governor McLean. In Asheville, she was a long-time member of the First Methodist church. From 1930 to 1932 she was the Chairman of the Department of Literature of the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs in Asheville and also served as the President of the Study Club. For many years she was an active member of the Asheville Garden Club.

It is told that she received a Carnegie medal for bravery when her oldest son, William was drowning in a swimming trip on the Catawba River and she, not a swimmer, walked stroking her way across the river even under water,  to rescue him. He later became Judge J. Will Pless, Jr. Judge of the Superior Court in western North Carolina form some 25 years and later Associate Justice of the North Carolnia Supreme Court. .

She remained active until near the end of her life and died at the age of 91 in an Asheville nursing home.

Her two sons, Judge J. Will Pless, Jr. and Edwin J. Pless were well known in western North Carolina legal and business circles, as was her husband James William Pless, Sr.

James William Pless, Sr. Collection, D. Hiden Ramsey Library, UNC Asheville

UNCA  Special Collections -Rare Books