Ann S. Anthan

Our mom, Ann Anthan, passed away in the early morning of Wednesday, March 23, after a four-year fight with cancer. She is survived by her sons Pete (Ingrid) and Elias (Linnea); her grandchildren George, Lanie, and Francis; and her sister, Yvonne Sutter. She was preceded in death by our dad, George; our brother, Nick; and her parents, Elias and Julie Sutter.

Mom was born in Kansas City in 1937, to Elias (Louie) and Julie Sutter, a Greek businessman and a homemaker. She was very active in the Greek-American community and her strong Greek Orthodox faith. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in education in 1959. Mom married our dad, George, in the summer of 1960, after dating through high school and college. She taught elementary school in Shawnee Mission, KS, and, when dad joined the Des Moines Register, she taught in Ankeny, IA, until Pete came along in 1967.

Mom loved being with family: our dad and us, her Mother and Daddy, her sister, and the never-boring, always entertaining in-laws, aunts, uncles, and cousins who made up our Greek family. She had a special love for her grandkids, George, Lanie, and Francis. They were the brightest lights in her later life, and she often wished, as time began to catch up, that she could stay to watch them pass the milestones that lay ahead and see their triumphs.

Mom was the rock on which our family stood. With three boys, she managed the teacher meetings and report cards; early morning hockey practice and weekend soccer games; the bumps and bruises and broken bones; the fighting and the fort-building. Mom got us to, and through, everything. All the trouble we got into (a lot) and all the joy we had (which was immeasurable), from childhood through college, marriage, and kids, mom was always there for us, full of love and a ton (a ton) of advice.

If there were two things outside of family that defined mom, they were her Greek Orthodox faith and her genuine knack for making great friends wherever she went. She lived most of her adult life in Des Moines and the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, where dad was posted to the Des Moines Register’s Washington Bureau. She was deeply involved in the Greek Orthodox church as a leader in the choir and a very active member of the congregation. She found many of her closest life-long friends at church; many were like family to her, and remained so even after she and dad moved away.

Mom also had great friends like Norm and Judy Brewer, and Don and Sue Kaul, who were part of the newspaper community; her bridge group from Chevy Chase; her co-workers at ECDC (the childcare center she helped run for the National Institutes of Health); and family and friends in Kansas City – some going back to her sorority days, some brand new after she and dad retired and moved back home. She was surrounded and loved by so many wonderful people, and she genuinely loved them all.

Mom is at peace now, with dad and Nick, her Mother and Daddy, her dogs and cats. In the end, what better can you say about a person than she loved her faith, her family and her friends so much, and they in turn made her life an interesting, meaningful and wonderful journey?

Nothing, I think. Nothing is better than that. Rest in peace now, Mom. May your memory be eternal.