Nineteenth Regent (2007-2010)
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Boyce Lineberger Ansley was born to Joseph William Lineberger, a textile-manufacturing company director, and Anna Boyce. She graduated from Chatham Hall in Chatham, Virginia, of which she was a trustee emeritus, and Virginia’s Hollins University, of which she was a longtime trustee. In 1970, she married Atlanta attorney Shepard Bryan Ansley.
MVLA
Past Regents
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association's Regent serves as the head of the board. Each woman is action-oriented and works to preserve and restore George Washington's Mount Vernon.
Preservation Work
Mrs. Ansley raised funds for a range of institutions in Georgia and nationally. She received the Historic Preservation Award from the Garden Club of America in 1996 and the Volunteer Fund Raiser of the Year Award from the National Society of Fund Raising Executives in 1997. She also sat on the boards of the Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the Atlanta Preservation Center, and the Trust for Public Land.
Elected Vice Regent for Georgia in 1987, Mrs. Ansley was one of the youngest Vice Regents ever to be elected to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. During her nearly three decades with the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, she served on all of its committees, including the Development Committee, of which she was a member for more than 20 years. She was a natural leader and an instinctive fundraiser.
One of Mrs. Ansley’s most enduring contributions on the Board was her leadership from October 1999 to September 2006 as Chair of the New Facility Oversight Committee that spearheaded the creation of the Ford Orientation Center and the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center. The construction of some 65,000 square feet of new facilities took more than two years and cost nearly $60 million. Mrs. Ansley also was a member of the task force that oversaw the building of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, which opened in September 2013.
Boyce Lineberger Ansley. MVLA.
Regent
Mrs. Ansley was elected the nineteenth Regent on October 24, 2007, and her three-year tenure included a significant milestone: the Association’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of its purchase of George Washington’s estate from his heirs.
A stalwart advocate of land conservation, she also focused on refining the Association’s efforts to protect and preserve Washington’s remarkable view across the Potomac River. During this time, Mrs. Ansley also oversaw the beginning of a $106 million capital campaign for the establishment of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon.
Several important preservation projects were completed during Mrs. Ansley’s tenure, including the restoration and reopening of the gardener’s house, reconstruction of the Blacksmith Shop, and archaeological study of the Upper Garden in preparation for a major restoration that began at the end of 2009. In addition, Mrs. Ansley steered the organization through the severe recession of 2008–2009, when the Association’s endowment lost one-third of its value.
Blacksmith Eric Zieg works with Steve Bashore, director of Historic Trades, to forge a new tool in the reconstructed Blacksmith Shop, which opened in 2009. MVLA.
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association was the first national historic preservation organization and is the oldest women's patriotic society in the United States.
learn more