Salt Lake City, UT—Ann (she very much disliked "Emma" because she said it was what you named a chicken) passed away in the early hours of February 12, 2021 due to a 96-year-old body surrendering and finally having her spirit called home. Her devoted daughter, Jean Bigelow was with her at the end and said Mom was talking to someone shortly before she passed away, and it wasn't Jean. We all believe she was scolding her husband, Richard, who passed away in 2009, for taking to so long to come and get her.
Ann was born on September 17, 1924, in Riverdale, Idaho to Orville and Laura Alida Neeley. Ann was the next to youngest of 7 children – six girls, one boy. All of her siblings predeceased her. Ann grew up helping on the family farm, going to school at the local elementary and middle school, and graduating from Preston High School. After graduation she traveled to California to help her sister who was expecting a new baby and worked at an ice cream parlor. Then she went to Idaho to help another sister. After that her Dad told her if she helped on the farm all summer, he could help her with the tuition for a year at Utah State University. She loved the University– especially Institute.
All of the boys Ann knew were enlisting in the military, joining the World War II effort. This gave her the desire to be involved as well. The day after her 20th birthday- on September 18,1944 she joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was trained as an X-ray technician at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Ann was assigned to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. That is also where, at a church service, she met her future husband, Richard C Bigelow, a soldier from Orem, Utah. Ann said when she met Richard her heart "leapt" and she hung on to that thought through making an official relationship by marrying Richard in the Logan, Utah temple on September 26, 1947.
Ann and Richard, both coming from large farming families, were committed to receiving higher education. Between Richard's military service, work and school, and Ann's parenting and school, Ann eventually earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Brigham Young University. There were early years when Ann did not work outside of the home, but she began teaching school in Idaho Falls, Idaho in the early 1950s and worked consistently as a teacher and a counselor from that time until her eventual retirement. Ann was described as a "pioneer" west of the Mississippi in her field as a grade school counselor. She was a master at seeing what children needed to develop and a saint in trying to help them do so. Watching her on the floor with her grandchildren playing games, reading books and doing projects were lessons every mother should see and from which every mother could learn. Ann was once asked why she stopped being a grade school counselor. Her answer was that once the politics of school counseling made it so that she could not involve parents in their children's problems she could not continue. Ann was a firm believer that the child's issues could not be completely resolved without the parent's involvement – no matter how skilled she was.
Ann loved having a garden with fresh raspberries, and vegetables. Many of us remember with fondness her "fresh peas and potatoes." Ann also memorized the hymnbook as a child. She never had to reach for it to sing the hymns, but always had a cute twinkle in her eye because she knew we knew she had whatever song we were singing memorized. As an example of her quiet yet meaningful church service, back in the 60s, without receiving an assignment she measured and prepared a piece of carpet to put in the hymnal holders in our ward. Ann recruited her children to then spend a service time putting them in place so the books could be reverently placed in their holders without the normal loud clunk.
After Ann and Richard decided to "retire" they spent 8 years working in the schools in St. Michaels village and St. Laurance Island in Alaska. That was a real frontier adventure for them. Richard was the school principal (K-12) and Ann taught elementary classes. That adventure was a lot of work for Ann, but she always believed that all children can learn – you just have to figure out how to teach them. The Native children were just a different challenge.
Ann and Richard are survived by their three children. They are Margaret Johnson (Mike), Richard Neeley Bigelow (Tracy) and Jean Marie Bigelow. Ann has 7 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. She is lovingly known as G-Gma, a very competitive game player and BYU Cougars fan.
Ann loved her family and her Heavenly Father. She served willingly in every calling given to her. She out-worked and out-mothered every person her family knows. She led by quiet, wise example. Ann never slept in until she was 94 and in an assisted living apartment. We didn't know quite how to handle not having her up working well before 8 AM even in her 70s and 80s. Despite the COVID shutdown robbing her and us of precious visits over the last 11 months, her body finally got tired enough that she was placed on Hospice and she stayed mostly in bed. None of us had ever seen her in bed for any length on time, but because of that circumstance we were all able to come to her room for extended visits over the last month. Ann's mind was still sharp up to the end, even as her body gave out. What a blessing it was to visit with her, to hear more stories about her life and to read scriptures together. Right to the end she was a lady, a kind sweet soul, a truth speaker, a dear friend and an angel.
Our many thanks go to the Staff at Sunrise Assisted Living, the Solstice Hospice nurses and her kind Branch members who loved her and looked out for her. And a special thanks goes to our sister Jean, who was with our Mom through all the hard things of life these last 11 years.
Funeral services will be held at the Memorial Holladay-Cottonwood Mortuary, located at 4670 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow the funeral at the Memorial Holladay Cemetery, 4900 S. Memory Lane, Holladay Utah. There will be a visitation period for friends and family beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the mortuary before the funeral service. The mortuary at this time allows 50 people for services so all family and closest friends are certainly welcome there. Masks and social distancing required. The service will also be broadcast by Zoom. The Zoom instructions can be found at http://www.memorialutah.com/obituary/holladay-cottonwood/emma-ann-neeley-bigelow/
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in Deseret News from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19, 2021.
Ann was born on September 17, 1924, in Riverdale, Idaho to Orville and Laura Alida Neeley. Ann was the next to youngest of 7 children – six girls, one boy. All of her siblings predeceased her. Ann grew up helping on the family farm, going to school at the local elementary and middle school, and graduating from Preston High School. After graduation she traveled to California to help her sister who was expecting a new baby and worked at an ice cream parlor. Then she went to Idaho to help another sister. After that her Dad told her if she helped on the farm all summer, he could help her with the tuition for a year at Utah State University. She loved the University– especially Institute.
All of the boys Ann knew were enlisting in the military, joining the World War II effort. This gave her the desire to be involved as well. The day after her 20th birthday- on September 18,1944 she joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was trained as an X-ray technician at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Ann was assigned to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. That is also where, at a church service, she met her future husband, Richard C Bigelow, a soldier from Orem, Utah. Ann said when she met Richard her heart "leapt" and she hung on to that thought through making an official relationship by marrying Richard in the Logan, Utah temple on September 26, 1947.
Ann and Richard, both coming from large farming families, were committed to receiving higher education. Between Richard's military service, work and school, and Ann's parenting and school, Ann eventually earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Brigham Young University. There were early years when Ann did not work outside of the home, but she began teaching school in Idaho Falls, Idaho in the early 1950s and worked consistently as a teacher and a counselor from that time until her eventual retirement. Ann was described as a "pioneer" west of the Mississippi in her field as a grade school counselor. She was a master at seeing what children needed to develop and a saint in trying to help them do so. Watching her on the floor with her grandchildren playing games, reading books and doing projects were lessons every mother should see and from which every mother could learn. Ann was once asked why she stopped being a grade school counselor. Her answer was that once the politics of school counseling made it so that she could not involve parents in their children's problems she could not continue. Ann was a firm believer that the child's issues could not be completely resolved without the parent's involvement – no matter how skilled she was.
Ann loved having a garden with fresh raspberries, and vegetables. Many of us remember with fondness her "fresh peas and potatoes." Ann also memorized the hymnbook as a child. She never had to reach for it to sing the hymns, but always had a cute twinkle in her eye because she knew we knew she had whatever song we were singing memorized. As an example of her quiet yet meaningful church service, back in the 60s, without receiving an assignment she measured and prepared a piece of carpet to put in the hymnal holders in our ward. Ann recruited her children to then spend a service time putting them in place so the books could be reverently placed in their holders without the normal loud clunk.
After Ann and Richard decided to "retire" they spent 8 years working in the schools in St. Michaels village and St. Laurance Island in Alaska. That was a real frontier adventure for them. Richard was the school principal (K-12) and Ann taught elementary classes. That adventure was a lot of work for Ann, but she always believed that all children can learn – you just have to figure out how to teach them. The Native children were just a different challenge.
Ann and Richard are survived by their three children. They are Margaret Johnson (Mike), Richard Neeley Bigelow (Tracy) and Jean Marie Bigelow. Ann has 7 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. She is lovingly known as G-Gma, a very competitive game player and BYU Cougars fan.
Ann loved her family and her Heavenly Father. She served willingly in every calling given to her. She out-worked and out-mothered every person her family knows. She led by quiet, wise example. Ann never slept in until she was 94 and in an assisted living apartment. We didn't know quite how to handle not having her up working well before 8 AM even in her 70s and 80s. Despite the COVID shutdown robbing her and us of precious visits over the last 11 months, her body finally got tired enough that she was placed on Hospice and she stayed mostly in bed. None of us had ever seen her in bed for any length on time, but because of that circumstance we were all able to come to her room for extended visits over the last month. Ann's mind was still sharp up to the end, even as her body gave out. What a blessing it was to visit with her, to hear more stories about her life and to read scriptures together. Right to the end she was a lady, a kind sweet soul, a truth speaker, a dear friend and an angel.
Our many thanks go to the Staff at Sunrise Assisted Living, the Solstice Hospice nurses and her kind Branch members who loved her and looked out for her. And a special thanks goes to our sister Jean, who was with our Mom through all the hard things of life these last 11 years.
Funeral services will be held at the Memorial Holladay-Cottonwood Mortuary, located at 4670 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow the funeral at the Memorial Holladay Cemetery, 4900 S. Memory Lane, Holladay Utah. There will be a visitation period for friends and family beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the mortuary before the funeral service. The mortuary at this time allows 50 people for services so all family and closest friends are certainly welcome there. Masks and social distancing required. The service will also be broadcast by Zoom. The Zoom instructions can be found at http://www.memorialutah.com/obituary/holladay-cottonwood/emma-ann-neeley-bigelow/
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in Deseret News from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19, 2021.
Salt Lake City, UT—Ann (she very much disliked "Emma" because she said it was what you named a chicken) passed away in the early hours of February 12, 2021 due to a 96-year-old body surrendering and finally having her spirit called home. Her devoted daughter, Jean Bigelow was with her at the end and said Mom was talking to someone shortly before she passed away, and it wasn't Jean. We all believe she was scolding her husband, Richard, who passed away in 2009, for taking to so long to come and get her.
Ann was born on September 17, 1924, in Riverdale, Idaho to Orville and Laura Alida Neeley. Ann was the next to youngest of 7 children – six girls, one boy. All of her siblings predeceased her. Ann grew up helping on the family farm, going to school at the local elementary and middle school, and graduating from Preston High School. After graduation she traveled to California to help her sister who was expecting a new baby and worked at an ice cream parlor. Then she went to Idaho to help another sister. After that her Dad told her if she helped on the farm all summer, he could help her with the tuition for a year at Utah State University. She loved the University– especially Institute.
All of the boys Ann knew were enlisting in the military, joining the World War II effort. This gave her the desire to be involved as well. The day after her 20th birthday- on September 18,1944 she joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was trained as an X-ray technician at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Ann was assigned to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. That is also where, at a church service, she met her future husband, Richard C Bigelow, a soldier from Orem, Utah. Ann said when she met Richard her heart "leapt" and she hung on to that thought through making an official relationship by marrying Richard in the Logan, Utah temple on September 26, 1947.
Ann and Richard, both coming from large farming families, were committed to receiving higher education. Between Richard's military service, work and school, and Ann's parenting and school, Ann eventually earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Brigham Young University. There were early years when Ann did not work outside of the home, but she began teaching school in Idaho Falls, Idaho in the early 1950s and worked consistently as a teacher and a counselor from that time until her eventual retirement. Ann was described as a "pioneer" west of the Mississippi in her field as a grade school counselor. She was a master at seeing what children needed to develop and a saint in trying to help them do so. Watching her on the floor with her grandchildren playing games, reading books and doing projects were lessons every mother should see and from which every mother could learn. Ann was once asked why she stopped being a grade school counselor. Her answer was that once the politics of school counseling made it so that she could not involve parents in their children's problems she could not continue. Ann was a firm believer that the child's issues could not be completely resolved without the parent's involvement – no matter how skilled she was.
Ann loved having a garden with fresh raspberries, and vegetables. Many of us remember with fondness her "fresh peas and potatoes." Ann also memorized the hymnbook as a child. She never had to reach for it to sing the hymns, but always had a cute twinkle in her eye because she knew we knew she had whatever song we were singing memorized. As an example of her quiet yet meaningful church service, back in the 60s, without receiving an assignment she measured and prepared a piece of carpet to put in the hymnal holders in our ward. Ann recruited her children to then spend a service time putting them in place so the books could be reverently placed in their holders without the normal loud clunk.
After Ann and Richard decided to "retire" they spent 8 years working in the schools in St. Michaels village and St. Laurance Island in Alaska. That was a real frontier adventure for them. Richard was the school principal (K-12) and Ann taught elementary classes. That adventure was a lot of work for Ann, but she always believed that all children can learn – you just have to figure out how to teach them. The Native children were just a different challenge.
Ann and Richard are survived by their three children. They are Margaret Johnson (Mike), Richard Neeley Bigelow (Tracy) and Jean Marie Bigelow. Ann has 7 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. She is lovingly known as G-Gma, a very competitive game player and BYU Cougars fan.
Ann loved her family and her Heavenly Father. She served willingly in every calling given to her. She out-worked and out-mothered every person her family knows. She led by quiet, wise example. Ann never slept in until she was 94 and in an assisted living apartment. We didn't know quite how to handle not having her up working well before 8 AM even in her 70s and 80s. Despite the COVID shutdown robbing her and us of precious visits over the last 11 months, her body finally got tired enough that she was placed on Hospice and she stayed mostly in bed. None of us had ever seen her in bed for any length on time, but because of that circumstance we were all able to come to her room for extended visits over the last month. Ann's mind was still sharp up to the end, even as her body gave out. What a blessing it was to visit with her, to hear more stories about her life and to read scriptures together. Right to the end she was a lady, a kind sweet soul, a truth speaker, a dear friend and an angel.
Our many thanks go to the Staff at Sunrise Assisted Living, the Solstice Hospice nurses and her kind Branch members who loved her and looked out for her. And a special thanks goes to our sister Jean, who was with our Mom through all the hard things of life these last 11 years.
Funeral services will be held at the Memorial Holladay-Cottonwood Mortuary, located at 4670 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow the funeral at the Memorial Holladay Cemetery, 4900 S. Memory Lane, Holladay Utah. There will be a visitation period for friends and family beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the mortuary before the funeral service. The mortuary at this time allows 50 people for services so all family and closest friends are certainly welcome there. Masks and social distancing required. The service will also be broadcast by Zoom. The Zoom instructions can be found at http://www.memorialutah.com/obituary/holladay-cottonwood/emma-ann-neeley-bigelow/
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in Deseret News from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19, 2021.
Ann was born on September 17, 1924, in Riverdale, Idaho to Orville and Laura Alida Neeley. Ann was the next to youngest of 7 children – six girls, one boy. All of her siblings predeceased her. Ann grew up helping on the family farm, going to school at the local elementary and middle school, and graduating from Preston High School. After graduation she traveled to California to help her sister who was expecting a new baby and worked at an ice cream parlor. Then she went to Idaho to help another sister. After that her Dad told her if she helped on the farm all summer, he could help her with the tuition for a year at Utah State University. She loved the University– especially Institute.
All of the boys Ann knew were enlisting in the military, joining the World War II effort. This gave her the desire to be involved as well. The day after her 20th birthday- on September 18,1944 she joined the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She was trained as an X-ray technician at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. Ann was assigned to Ft. Dix, New Jersey. That is also where, at a church service, she met her future husband, Richard C Bigelow, a soldier from Orem, Utah. Ann said when she met Richard her heart "leapt" and she hung on to that thought through making an official relationship by marrying Richard in the Logan, Utah temple on September 26, 1947.
Ann and Richard, both coming from large farming families, were committed to receiving higher education. Between Richard's military service, work and school, and Ann's parenting and school, Ann eventually earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Brigham Young University. There were early years when Ann did not work outside of the home, but she began teaching school in Idaho Falls, Idaho in the early 1950s and worked consistently as a teacher and a counselor from that time until her eventual retirement. Ann was described as a "pioneer" west of the Mississippi in her field as a grade school counselor. She was a master at seeing what children needed to develop and a saint in trying to help them do so. Watching her on the floor with her grandchildren playing games, reading books and doing projects were lessons every mother should see and from which every mother could learn. Ann was once asked why she stopped being a grade school counselor. Her answer was that once the politics of school counseling made it so that she could not involve parents in their children's problems she could not continue. Ann was a firm believer that the child's issues could not be completely resolved without the parent's involvement – no matter how skilled she was.
Ann loved having a garden with fresh raspberries, and vegetables. Many of us remember with fondness her "fresh peas and potatoes." Ann also memorized the hymnbook as a child. She never had to reach for it to sing the hymns, but always had a cute twinkle in her eye because she knew we knew she had whatever song we were singing memorized. As an example of her quiet yet meaningful church service, back in the 60s, without receiving an assignment she measured and prepared a piece of carpet to put in the hymnal holders in our ward. Ann recruited her children to then spend a service time putting them in place so the books could be reverently placed in their holders without the normal loud clunk.
After Ann and Richard decided to "retire" they spent 8 years working in the schools in St. Michaels village and St. Laurance Island in Alaska. That was a real frontier adventure for them. Richard was the school principal (K-12) and Ann taught elementary classes. That adventure was a lot of work for Ann, but she always believed that all children can learn – you just have to figure out how to teach them. The Native children were just a different challenge.
Ann and Richard are survived by their three children. They are Margaret Johnson (Mike), Richard Neeley Bigelow (Tracy) and Jean Marie Bigelow. Ann has 7 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. She is lovingly known as G-Gma, a very competitive game player and BYU Cougars fan.
Ann loved her family and her Heavenly Father. She served willingly in every calling given to her. She out-worked and out-mothered every person her family knows. She led by quiet, wise example. Ann never slept in until she was 94 and in an assisted living apartment. We didn't know quite how to handle not having her up working well before 8 AM even in her 70s and 80s. Despite the COVID shutdown robbing her and us of precious visits over the last 11 months, her body finally got tired enough that she was placed on Hospice and she stayed mostly in bed. None of us had ever seen her in bed for any length on time, but because of that circumstance we were all able to come to her room for extended visits over the last month. Ann's mind was still sharp up to the end, even as her body gave out. What a blessing it was to visit with her, to hear more stories about her life and to read scriptures together. Right to the end she was a lady, a kind sweet soul, a truth speaker, a dear friend and an angel.
Our many thanks go to the Staff at Sunrise Assisted Living, the Solstice Hospice nurses and her kind Branch members who loved her and looked out for her. And a special thanks goes to our sister Jean, who was with our Mom through all the hard things of life these last 11 years.
Funeral services will be held at the Memorial Holladay-Cottonwood Mortuary, located at 4670 S. Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow the funeral at the Memorial Holladay Cemetery, 4900 S. Memory Lane, Holladay Utah. There will be a visitation period for friends and family beginning at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the mortuary before the funeral service. The mortuary at this time allows 50 people for services so all family and closest friends are certainly welcome there. Masks and social distancing required. The service will also be broadcast by Zoom. The Zoom instructions can be found at http://www.memorialutah.com/obituary/holladay-cottonwood/emma-ann-neeley-bigelow/
To Plant Memorial Trees in memory, please visit our Sympathy Store.
Published in Deseret News from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19, 2021.
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