Using tools she learned as a model, Anne Oliver wanted to teach young women how to carry themselves. She wanted to see them be successful and excel beyond their wildest dreams.
"Her exact words were that she wanted them to be 'Poised, polished and beautifully prepared for life,' " said her husband, Perry Oliver. "Her goal was to spread this message to as many people as possible, to the whole world, if possible."
Anne Hatfield Oliver, of Kennesaw and Santa Fe, N.M., died Thursday at WellStar Kennestone Hospital from complications related to lung cancer, though she did not smoke. She was 77. Her body was cremated, and a memorial service has been planned for 11 a.m., Aug. 8 at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta. H.M. Patterson & Son, Arlington Chapel, was in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Oliver's career in the fashion industry began in Baton Rouge, La., where she worked as on-air talent for a local television show, helping prep food for a cooking show. She attended Louisiana State University for a couple of years before transferring to the University of Georgia, where she earned a degree in home economics in 1956.
The former 1954 UGA homecoming queen married Mr. Oliver a couple of months after graduation, and the couple lived in Norfolk, Va., where he had a military assignment. While there, she worked as a model for different department stores. She continued to model for department stores, including Davison's and Rich's, when the couple, and a young son, moved to Atlanta in 1960. A second son arrived a couple of years later. Mrs. Oliver, who embraced the Buckhead fashion scene, was also a participant in a number of Sol Kent's annual Fashionata events, Mr. Oliver said.
In the early '70s, Mrs. Oliver gave up modeling to take a job with Saks Fifth Avenue as a fashion and public relations director. It was in this position that she was able to share many of the tips and lessons she'd learned along the way, said her oldest son, Staton Oliver, of Marietta.
"She felt compelled to start teaching etiquette and poise," he said. "She had a teacher instinct that really came out."
While still working for Saks, she started teaching finishing classes for young women, which grew into a two-week experience and European tours where young ladies could practice what they learned. She eventually left Saks, in the late '70s, and started a finishing school called L'ecole des Ingenues. The finishing school evolved into Mrs. Oliver also teaching a class for executives who wanted to "polish up their social skills," her husband said.
Mrs. Oliver knew she couldn't reach every young woman through the classes, so she penned a book, "Finishing Touches," which was published in 1990. Before she died, she learned her book would be released in an e-book format, her husband said.
"It was timeless information," her son said. "It applied then and it still applies now, and she was quite proud of that."
Mrs. Oliver is also survived by a second son, Jordan Oliver of Boulder, Colo.; brother, Michael Hatfield of Tampa, Fla.; and one grandson.
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