Dear Jenette and Gary,

Posted by Aunt LeAnn on December 12, 2001 at 14:05:45:

My heart is unbearably heavy when I make myself realize that our precious Ann is now an angel. But what an angel! She touched an incredible number of lives with her love and kindness. We are all better people for having known her. Thank you for sharing her with the world.

My love for her began the moment I held her as an infant and will remain as long as I live. I cherish the many moments I shared in her life, my memory bank is full. Remembering Annie as a child, wearing her cowgirl hat and worn blue jeans to her birthday party warms my heart. She never lost that naturalness as a teenager being crowned during homecoming at Wayland or winning her many athletic events. That charisma continued and blossomed in her incredibly successful professional life. At any age, she was able to visit with queens and kings but never became arrogant. Ann taught me that bragging isn’t necessary if you’re good. She constantly supplied praise to those close to her, realizing that making people feel good about themselves encourages them to become better people.

The two of you formed an exemplary family in every way. As parents to Ann and Scott you were loving in your guidance and generous in your affection. You shared resources and life’s lessons as well as taught them human compassion. Ann was the most well adjusted person I have known, she felt the world was hers and she reached out to envelop it. I appreciated the fact that she never forgot her roots and reached back often to let each of us know that we were important to her.

Nette, you brought a million smiles, taught creativity, a quest for knowledge, and the warm nurturing only a mother can give a child. Gary, you assisted in the development of a logical, analytical mind of a financial genius and the ability of a world class athlete. The two of you had the most positive relationship I have ever seen between a father and daughter. The pride you both felt for Ann and the love shared was apparent whenever you were together.

As we go forward in the difficult days ahead, know how much you are admired for your accomplishments as parents and loved by many. Ann’s family and friends will continue to celebrate her life and we will remember our angel.

Love from one of Annie’s Aunts,
LeAnn

“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing, and when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
Kahil Gibran