Anne was a prominent educator in Colorado for many decades, as teacher, district special education director, principal, author, assessment and leadership consultant, and coach/mentor. At the same time, for her family and friends, Anne was an incomparable listener, problem-solver, and supporter. In all of her endeavors, Anne never forgot – and in fact quoted frequently -- Maya Angelou’s life lesson: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Anne Patrice O’Rourke was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on June 18, 1947, to Robert and Emeline Morrissey. Anne was the fifth of eleven children. She graduated from Syracuse High School in Nebraska and went on to the University of Nebraska Lincoln, where she got her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and finally her doctorate in education.
While at Nebraska, Anne met fellow educator Bill O’Rourke. As Anne described the situation, “Bill was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Determined to live together the days that we had left, we married in 1969, and with the love and support of family and friends, we had 29 years together. We were both life partners and work partners, and I will always live in gratitude for our amazing life together.”
After getting her degree, Anne taught for a time in Fremont and Ralston, Nebraska, but soon she and Bill moved to Colorado. Anne served as Director of Special Education for the Harrison School District from 1979 to 1983, where she integrated special needs students into the classroom, and developed special programs for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. She then became Principal of Monterey Elementary School for the next ten years. There she helped teachers with many professional development activities. Her assessment training work attracted the interest of national assessment expert Grant Wiggins, who made a training video about Monterey’s experience in the “Standards, not Standardization” series.
Anne left Monterey and began an education consulting practice with her husband, Bill. One focus was on assessment, for which they had already gained local, state, and national recognition. A second focus was leadership training. One of her colleagues observed, “Many of her professional development topics focused on leading the leaders. She worked with educational leaders at all levels of an organization but was particularly passionate about coaching building level principals to empower them to create the conditions for faculty and young people to reach their highest levels of learning. Her work in the Principal Leadership Academies included modeling how to have difficult conversations and designing supervision practices that focused on enabling staff members to move forward competently with the implementation of complex initiatives. Anne was a brilliant practitioner who led with her heart.”
The consulting practice thrived. In a few short years Anne and Bill were traveling around the country advising school systems on how to measure student learning. Their conviction was that if teachers could not assess what matters in meaningful, authentic ways, then they could not improve on teaching what matters.
The professional consulting partnership did not last long. Bill’s cancer recurred, and he died in 1999. Anne cared for him in his last months, creating an extended community of family and friends for Bill
through her detailed daily email posts and updates, as well as by welcoming literally hundreds of visitors to the house.
Anne resumed her educational leadership efforts, endowing the O’Rourke Prize in Bill’s name, an honorarium awarded annually by Leaning Forward Colorado to an exemplary professional developer in the education field. She worked with the New School Leadership Project at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). After retirement, Anne continued to coach school administrators on an individual basis until 2019. Over the course of her career, Anne earned many awards and accolades.
Through all of the years, Anne remained closely involved with all of her brothers and sisters, her nephews and nieces, and husband Bill’s family and cousins. She was also the center of a community of close friends in Colorado, many of whom she had met through her work. Nobody was a better listener than Anne. No one was a more thoughtful friend. No one wanted to know more about the lives of her family and friends, and to help out when she could. Anne was a master at creating special events for her siblings. She was totally invested in the lives of her nieces and nephews and helped shape the wonderful young people they are today.
Anne loved her music, loved to make up song lyrics about her family and friends, loved her Huskers, and had a big laugh that told you exactly how much she was enjoying being with you. Anne has changed the lives of more people than she ever could have imagined. We will never forget how Anne made us feel.
Anne was preceded in death by her husband Bill, parents Bob and Emeline Morrissey, brother Mike, sister Rosemary, brother-in-law Roger Rohlfs, and niece Julie Rohlfs. She is survived by siblings Robert Jr. (Maggie) Morrissey, Linda Rohlfs, Sue (Bill) MacKenzie, Dick (June) Morrissey, Carole Morrissey, Cathy Morrissey, Bill (Kelly) Morrissey, Patty (Tony) Farley, sister Rosemary’s husband Harry Stubbendeck, seventh sister Lori Griggs, as well as over fifty nieces and nephews.
There will be a funeral for Anne on Tuesday morning, November 15 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, 2650 Parish View, Colorado Springs. The service will begin with a rosary at 10 a.m., followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m. After Mass, longtime friend Gary West will give a eulogy in the Hall, and then lunch will be served.
At Anne’s request, in lieu of flowers, please send donations to “the Bill and Anne O’Rourke Educational Support Fund” at the Harrison School District Foundation, 1060 Harrison Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80906.
Livestream this event at: www.stfrancis.org
Partager l'avis de décèsPARTAGER
v.1.11.6