Ranger Margaret Annalise Anderson's Obituary
Margaret Annalise Anderson
Margaret Annalise Kritsch was born on February 2, 1977 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, welcomed by parents Paul and Dorothy and older siblings Peter and Sarah. The family relocated to Wilton, Connecticut later that year, and when Margaret was eleven years old they moved to Westfield, New Jersey. Margaret attended Westfield High School, participating in the school marching band, varsity volleyball team and National Honor Society, and graduating in 1995. Margaret then went to Kansas State University, graduating in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology. She received her master's degree in Biology - Introduced Species from Fort Hays State University in Kansas in 2003. Margaret completed her initial law enforcement training at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. Margaret began her NPS career in 2000 as a law enforcement ranger at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, also meeting her future husband Eric Anderson there. In 2004 both Margaret and Eric moved to the Washington, D.C. area, where Margaret served as a law enforcement ranger at C & O Canal National Historical Park. Eric moved to the area to be with Margaret where he held several positions until becoming a law enforcement officer at nearby Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland. In 2005, Margaret completed the Land Management Police Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, and her law enforcement field training at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She was also an emergency medical technician. She was the emergency medical services coordinator and training officer at Mount Rainier National Park. In 2005, Margaret and Eric Anderson were married in Westfield, New Jersey in a service officiated by her father, the Reverend Paul Kritsch. Margaret and Eric welcomed their first daughter, Annalise Rose, in February 2008. Later that year, they moved to Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State, where they were both employed as law enforcement rangers. The family welcomed daughter Kathryn Paige in May 2010. Margaret will always be remembered as a beautiful, loving wife and mother. She loved and was dedicated to her family and adored by her husband and little girls. She was godmother to all six of her nieces and nephews. Friends and co-workers remember her as a skilled and dedicated NPS professional, with a ready smile and a willingness to help both visitors and colleagues. Margaret was killed in the line of duty on January 1, 2012 in Mount Rainier National Park while establishing a road block near Paradise. Her actions prevented a heavily armed man from reaching a popular and crowded visitor destination within the park. The family requests that memorials be made to the Margaret Anderson Donation Account at KeyBank, P.O. Box 159, Eatonville, Washington, 98328, or to the National Park Foundation's Margaret Anderson Memorial Fund at www.nationalparks.org/Margaret Anderson. Margaret is survived by her husband Eric, daughters Anna and Katie, parents Paul and Dorothy Kritsch of Westfield, NJ, sister Sarah Kritsch Beylon (Stephen) of (Green Bay, WI) and brother Peter (Karen) of (Oregon, WI), two nieces, four nephews, many other family members, and loving friends.
Arrangements by Mountain View Funeral Home.
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