Ann Wilmer Hoon, a former educator and activist whose family's roots in Kent County date to the 17th century, died Aug. 3 of Alzheimer's disease at the Heron Point retirement community in Chestertown. She was 88.

Born and raised in Chestertown, she was the daughter of Philip G. Wilmer, who served as mayor of Chestertown from 1932 to 1960 and owned an automobile dealership, and Isabel Perry Wilmer, a homemaker.

Mrs. Wilmer attended Chestertown public schools and graduated in 1946 from St. Catherine's School in Richmond, Va.

In a 2012 interview with the online publication Chestertown Spy, Mrs. Hoon recalled growing up in an era when “no one locked a door, and you just went in and out.”

She said during her school days, her parents took her to school in the fall, picked her up at Christmas, took her back in January and then came for her in June when school ended.

“They never came for visits, and you had to behave,” she recalled.

She earned a bachelor's degree in 1950 from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass.

In 1951, she married Alexander H. “Sandy” Hoon, a Williams College graduate who later became an executive at Jones and Laughlin Steel Co.

Because of her husband's work, the couple lived in Fredericksburg, Va., Wilmington, N.C., Nashville, Tenn., Devon, Pa., Youngstown, Ohio, and finally Pittsburgh, where Mrs. Hoon served as dean and headmistress at Winchester-Thurston School, a coeducational preparatory school.

When her husband retired in 1980, the couple returned to Chestertown and moved to Thornton Farm, a 352-acre family farm that dates to 1692 and overlooks Morgan Creek, a tributary of the Chester River.

She and her husband launched a restoration of the manor house that was severely damaged by a fire during the 1920s. Since 2005, the house has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“She became the 11th owner of the farm whose Georgian manor house dates to 1815,” said a son, Philip W. Hoon, a Chestertown attorney.

“She was also a descendant of Simon Wilmer, who donated the farmland that became Chestertown, which was incorporated in 1706.”

The couple added a new wing to the house, installed a swimming pool, restored the milk house and planted sugar maples along the driveway. Her husband oversaw operation of the farm, whose fields were planted with corn, wheat and soybeans.

“Everything in this house was done by local labor,” Mrs. Hoon told The Washington Post in a 1983 interview. “This is one of the reasons I like to show the house. We are proud of our local craftsmen.”

Mrs. Wilmer told the newspaper there were 11 generations of her family buried in St. Paul's Cemetery in Chestertown.

“I came back as a native,” Mrs. Hoon told the newspaper. “I already knew the people. It was so easy after moving in and out of places like Youngstown, Ohio, and not knowing the name of a human soul.”

“Hoon dresses like a corporate lawyer, in gray business suits. She keeps her blond hair cut short and wears little makeup,” the newspaper wrote. “She describes herself as ‘not a society woman but a professional woman.' She has no time, she says, for the elaborate dinner parties that were once a staple of Chestertown society.”

Shortly after returning to Chestertown, Mrs. Hoon founded PACE — Program for Advancement of Continuing Education — at Washington College. The program is now called the Washington College Academy for Lifelong Learning.

During the 1980s and 1990s, she owned and operated Butterfly Bush, a boutique.

Mrs. Hoon immersed herself in the life of Chestertown. She was actively involved with the Kent & Queen Anne Hospital, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and Soroptimists.

Also active in Democratic politics, Mrs. Hoon served as co-president of the League of Women Voters and during much of the 1980s covered the Kent County commissioners for the league.

In 1982, she ran in the Democratic primary for county commissioner and lost by 47 votes.

“I would not have even considered running for office if I had not been a native,” she told The Post. “People have been here for generations. They are comfortable with each other.”

“She was a strong woman and a feminist, but she was not a bra-burner,” her son said. “She was full of enthusiasm in everything she did.”

Mrs. Hoon worked diligently to preserve the history and rural nature of Kent County and was opposed to the building of a second Bay Bridge.

“I want us to stay agricultural. What happened outside Washington in Montgomery County and Prince George's counties, we surely don't want that here,” she told The Post. “Those places are commercial and overpopulated. That's what we in Chestertown have to be very careful about.”

Mrs. Hoon was a communicant of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 101 N. Cross St., Chestertown, where a memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday.

In addition to her husband of 65 years and son, Mrs. Hoon is survived by another son, Dr. Alexander H. Hoon Jr. of Ellicott City; and seven grandchildren. Another son, David M. Hoon, died in 2011.

frasmussen@baltsun.com