Ann Day

Born June 25, 1945 in Palmer, Massachusetts, Anni was the daughter of the late Dr. Paul Revere Dingman and Ruth Taft Dingman. Anni was blessed with a loving father and a mother who trained her horses for dressage competition. At age twelve, Anni got her very own foal (Smokey).

Anni graduated from Valley High School in Des Moines, Iowa in 1963, and the University of Iowa in 1967, with a BA in Elementary Education. After college, Anni taught private school for ten years in Galveston, while she enjoyed supporting her daughter Robin in tennis competition and jogging with her on the seawall.

Later, she became co-owner of AMI Software in Houston, which produced corporate accounting and client accounting software. It was here that she met her future husband Harvey Day, who referred his clients to her company. In 1984, she began working for Control Data and then Houston Software, before joining Compaq Computer Corporation, where she eventually became Manager of Customer Relations. This was her most satisfying and exciting position, where she received the highest award in Consumer Service, the Consumer Services Pinacle Award, which was presented to her by Compaq executives at a company banquet.

At Compaq, Anni created the Executive Hot Line, which helped Compaq executives by taking ownership of key customers' issues. Anni's team eventually grew to 73 employees, which included the Executive Hot Line, a Root Cause lab, the Consumer Dispatch Call Center, and Case Management. She also managed Customer Relations functions for five outsource call centers and assisted Compaq international subsidiaries in setting up their Customer Relations departments. Although Anni was known for her innovations, she said her most important role was mentoring and promoting her employees' career paths through professional development and job enrichment.

After the Compaq / Hewlett-Packard merger, Anni worked in the Hewlett-Packard Server division before eventually retiring. She later decided to re-enter the workplace, working at Automatic Data Processing, Safety Vision, and finally again for Hewlett-Packard as a Data Analyst contractor.

In her later years, Anni enjoyed beach vacations, reading, painting, swimming, and most of all her three grandchildren. Anni was the kind of person who could light up a room and make everyone smile; she made friends everywhere she went, and she always greeted people with a warm hug.

Anni was preceded in death by her mother, Ruth Taft Dingman, and her father, Dr. Paul Revere Dingman. She is survived by her loving husband of 34 years, Harvey Day and his children Nicole Day and Lee Day, her daughter Robin Lanier and her husband Kevin Lanier of Houston and their children Brennan, Sophia, and Elise, and her brother Paul Dingman and his wife Svetlana Dingman of Portland, Oregon. She also leaves behind her beloved cats, Sheeka and Blue, and numerous friends she made throughout the years. In lieu of flowers, Anni would have asked that donations be made for homeless animals and endangered species wild animals.