WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Ann Buckles Orteig died on July 24, 2022, in Williamsburg, VA, at the age of 94. She is survived by her daughter, Yvonne, her husband Jay Fielden, and their children, Jack, Eliza, and Clara; nephews Ben and Robert Buckles; and niece Edithann Buckles Wadewitz. She was born in Kingsport, TN, in 1928, and attended William & Mary, where she performed in the college’s long celebrated production of The Common Glory. Upon graduation, she won the Virginia Barter Theater Award, and moved to New York, where she performed on Broadway, starring in Pajama Game, Little Foxes, Private Lives, and Mrs. McThing. Her television credits include Studio One, The Red Skelton and Phil Silvers Shows, Kraft Theater Hour, and Guiding Light. As a member of Moral Rearmament, she travelled the globe, co-starring with Muriel Smith in a theater production of The Crowning Experience. She was also the head of public relations at Harper’s Bazaar magazine.
She was an unusual and endearing combination of talents and traits—funny, generous, opinionated, stylish, and unfiltered. She took pride in being direct but was typically ready with an apology—and some chocolates—when she had gone too far. Her greatest desire was to know God's love, and to grow in love for others. A Catholic convert, she attended St. Bede’s. Later in life, she completed the Substance Abuse Counseling program at Rutgers University and worked in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail where she taught writing—her favorite job of all.
