Ann B. Ayres

Ann Brittain Ayres of South Wellfleet died of natural causes January 24, 2014 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She was 78. Ann, who preferred to be called Annie, was born December 11, 1935 in Chicago, where her parents, Carolyn (Snyder) and Arthur F. Brittain lived on Lake Shore Drive. She was an only child.

Ann attended the Latin School of Chicago and Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. In 1953 she matriculated Bryn Mawr College, where she received an honorary admission to the Barnes Foundation. Ann was also a student at the Art Institute of Chicago,

After leaving Bryn Mawr, Ann pursued her artistic career in Majorca, Spain, where she became fluent in Spanish. Upon returning to the U.S. she became a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was in Boston that she met her husband Edmond Ayres. Because Ann’s middle name by coincidence happened to be Ayres too, an espousal seemed appropriate. They were married May 2, 1959. It was a marriage that lasted nearly 55 years. Ann and Edmond lived in St. Thomas, USVI with their two children during the ‘sixties and early ‘seventies. After that, they moved to Washington, D.C. and during the ‘eighties to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Annie received a Bachelor’s of Science from Northeastern University in 1989. She worked then as a software diagnostician for various technology companies throughout the Boston Metropolitan area, including Lotus Development Corporation. and IBM.

Ann is survived by her husband, Edmond, their two children, Eugene in Cambridge, MA and Caroline in San Francisco, CA,, and by Caroline's spouse Bethica Quinn, and their two children, Clio and Lucinda. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Jan Widgery of Seattle, WA., three nieces, and family friend, Michael Mammone of Waltham, MA.

Ann was an artist/craftsman extraordinaire, whose work inspired people by virtue of its spontaneity and inventiveness. She was a talented artist, cook, carpenter and gardener She was a masterful storyteller, an avid reader, and an enthusiastic supporter of the Wellfleet Public Library.

Anyone lucky enough to know Ann was touched by her personality, bright and sparkling, and they were changed, to some degree, forever.