Mom; mother to a few, friend to many, a born traveler of the world, teacher, master of many crafts, and super-genius has passed away.
Ann Reeves Seese was born to James Edson Reeves of 4th generation Scottish descent, and Mary Louise Otterbein of 2nd generation Italian, in Davenport Iowa, 1938. The family moved several times, living variously in Portland, Oregon; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Walla Walla, Washington; and Panama (twice). A year in Kefissia, Greece produced stories of riding horse carts and buses into Athens and back at the age of eight with her two younger brothers, Joeseph (6) and Tommie (4), in tow.
Upon graduation from Highland High School, Albuquerque in 1957 she spent a year studying physics at The University of Iowa with the renowned “Father of Space Science,” Dr James Van Allen, and was offered scholarships at Drexel University and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, yet chose instead to marry William Shober Seese on July 22, 1958, and raise a family. Her husband’s career as a Chemistry Professor took them around the country and the world, to Durango and Boulder, Colorado; Pullman, Washington; Wasco, California; Casper, Wyoming; Gallup, New Mexico; Pippas Passes, Kentucky; Saudi Arabia; Sudan; and Oman. Eventually earning a Bachelors in Math Education at Eastern Washington University, she went on to teach the gamut from primary to the most advanced mathematics, as well as swimming instruction from the levels of special needs through college. She worked with archaeologist T. Geoffrey Bibby on his famous dig at Bahrain, unearthing a 4,000-year-old kingdom and establishing a connection between it and Dilmun, presumed to be a mythical paradise where the epic hero Gilgamesh went in search of eternal life — all the while raising her children.
An avid needle-pointer, quilter, and seamstress throughout her life, she studied tapestry, weaving, and dyeing at The Royal College of Needlepoint, London, and has a needlepoint Christmas stocking in the collection of The Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C. After my father’s retirement they both traveled the world many times over with a special love for New Zealand, all the while retaining her devotion for the needle arts, an obsession with beautiful objects, a love of Christmas, of family, and of course, Sudoku.
She leaves behind the loving embrace of her best friend, Marsha, birth and adopted children Jude, Eva, and David and his wife Nadine; grandchildren Avery, Cooper, Francesca, Patricia and William; and myself, Steven, proud son, among many others.
