Katherine Ann Hogan

She was born on July 8, 1928, to William Crockett Wilkes and Katharine Regina (Eckhoff) Wilkes in Brooklyn, New York, the first of five children. Ann, as she was always known, was raised with her younger siblings Betty, Peg, Tom, and Bill in Summit, New Jersey. Growing up, she had a special interest in music, taking classes at an opera school and learning to play violin. Graduating as the valedictorian of Summit High School in 1946, she planned to attend Wellesley College. But when offered an opportunity to travel around the world with the religious group Moral Rearmament (MRA), she embarked on a life-changing adventure.

Touring with MRA, Ann explored the globe, beginning with travel around the United States and Canada and later spending time in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including a year living in India and Pakistan. While Ann worked primarily as a secretary, having completed a course at the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School, she also frequently sang in the chorus of MRA’s many musical productions and helped with props. Through MRA she met and fell in love with Robert H. (Bob) Hogan of New York City, a World War II veteran and fellow participant in MRA. They became engaged in 1956 on Mackinac Island, Michigan, at MRA’s U.S. headquarters. They married in 1957 in Summit and continued their work with MRA until 1965.

At that point, they settled in Riverside, Connecticut, where they went on to raise their four children: Robert, Mary Kate, Margaret, and John. Ann shifted roles from traveling missionary to epic mom. She put her exceptional organizational skills to work not only for her own family but also volunteering at all of her kids’ schools and helping other children with reading and speech. She was a meticulous keeper of lists, often jotting notes and Christmas lists in shorthand so no one else could read them. In an age when neighborhood kids played outside for hours and roamed from house to house in search of lunch, she was known for making the best grilled cheese on the block.

Family and faith were Ann’s focus. She was an active member of St. Paul’s Church, Riverside, where she sang in the choir, oversaw the church archives, organized the weekly newsletter, ran the annual book sale, served as Vestry clerk, and offered her talents to many projects. Ann was also a Girl Scout leader and volunteered for the Greenwich Association for Public Schools and at Nathaniel Witherell.

Ann’s intellectual curiosity was boundless, the definition of a lifelong learner. She read voraciously, enjoyed courses on tape from the Learning Company, and attended continuing education classes. She completed the Education for Ministry course of the Episcopal Church and enjoyed seminars taken through the General Theological Seminary in Manhattan.

Ann remained active into her later years and walked for miles around Riverside nearly every day, no matter the weather. She continued to travel when she could including memorable visits to Japan and to Ireland and Scotland with her sisters. She also enjoyed yearly trips to Belgrade Lakes, Maine, and Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Sadly, in recent years, Alzheimer’s disease stole her special talent for remembering everyone’s name, birthday, and other personal details. But it never took away her bright, wide smile, which she shared generously with her loved ones, even in the last days of her life.

More than anything, Ann will be remembered for her gentle manner, kind heart, and caring nature.

She is survived by her beloved husband, Robert H. Hogan; son Robert Wilkes Hogan, his wife Ekuko, and their children Takeru and Erica; daughter Mary Kate Anderson, her husband Tom, and their daughter Cara; daughter Margaret Ann Hogan; son John William Hogan and his wife Rachael; her sisters Elizabeth Belk and Margaret Clark; her brother William Wilkes; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Thomas E. Wilkes.

Services will be held December 2, 2022, at 11:30 am at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 200 Riverside Avenue, Riverside; all are welcome. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Riverside.