Anne L. Banta, a retired administrative assistant and longtime Towson resident, died Wednesday of multiple sclerosis at St. Joseph Medical Center. She was 66.

The former Anne Heffern was born and raised in Binghamton, N.Y. She was a 1960 graduate of the Wood School, a New York City business school.

She was a secretary at Link Aviation in Binghamton, a manufacturer of training aircraft. She came to Baltimore in 1965 when she took a position as an administrative assistant at Westinghouse Electric Corp's Linthicum plant.

After raising her family, Mrs. Banta returned to work in 1986 as an administrative assistant at the University of Maryland Extension Service 4-H office in Cockeysville. In 1999, she retired because of failing health.

Mrs. Banta had been a Girl Scout leader for more than a decade and had taught Sunday school for 19 years at Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Roman Catholic Church in Timonium, where she was also a communicant.

She had also been active in the Parent Teacher Association at Hampton Elementary School, Ridgely Middle School and Loch Raven High School.

Mrs. Banta enjoyed crafts and collecting angels.

A memorial Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Nov. 16 at her church, 20 E. Ridgely Road.

Surviving are her husband of 41 years, Richard C. Banta, a retired Northrop Grumman Corp. program manager; two daughters, Katherine Nightingale of Champlin, Minn., and Susan Hirneisen of Greencastle, Pa.; and five grandchildren.