Ann Marie Shields

Ann Marie (Pinelli) Shields was born in October 1931 into an Italian family. She was the only child of Johnny, who managed an auto-body shop and Grace Marie, who worked as a seamstress in a coat factory. Ann felt she was the luckiest girl in the world to grow up in Chicago. Extremely bright, she skipped grades in school and graduated from high school at barely age 16; and then started her working life as a secretary in downtown Chicago.

At age 20, Ann married Fred Malmin in 1951 at Midwest Bible Church in Chicago. They moved to Peoria and lived in married worker quarters at Peoria State Mental Hospital, where Fred worked as a patient attendant and Ann served as a secretary to a psychiatrist.

Fred was drafted into the Marines and stationed in Southern California; Ann joined him and their son David was born in 1952 at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside. After completing his military service, they returned to Chicago, where daughter Judith was born in 1954. Tired of Chicago winters, they returned to Southern California in 1957, eventually landing in Ventura. Once both children were in school, Ann returned to secretarial work in the Ventura County District Attorney’s office. She started as a lowly member of the secretarial pool, but gradually worked her way up to become the personal secretary to District Attorney Woody Deem. Ann retained her position as the DA’s personal secretary for many years, until she was promoted to Family Support Officer within the department; she held that position for several more years until retiring from the County.

Ann and Fred divorced in 1968; a couple years later, she went to a Parents Without Partners dance, and met Doyle Ellsworth Shields, aka “Des”; a minister who was sent on special appointment from the Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church to work for the County of Ventura in the field of Alcohol and Drugs Education. They were married in November 1971 and Des never returned to the Northwest.

Ann’s passion was writing, especially fiction writing. She was an integral part of the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference, which she attended faithfully for many years, and made life-long friends with many famous writers. Ann won numerous writing awards, and held writing positions first at the Ventura Star and then a book column for the Los Angeles Times. She published magazine articles and wrote two novels, one named “Sassy”, which became her persona.

She dealt calmly and courageously with a number of medical conditions over the years. In her mid-30’s Ann was diagnosed with lupus; and in her 60’s with celiac disease; both conditions required lifestyle adjustments that she handled with grace.

Ann is survived by son, David Malmin and his wife Barbara; daughter, Judith Weber and her husband Joe; step-daughter, Robbin Shields; grandchildren include, Suzanne (Malmin) Jaeger and her husband Ryan, Andy Malmin, Elle (Weber) Koleckar and her husband Kevin, Matthew Weber, Sam Weber, Gabriel Shields and his fiance Michele Melen, Brittany Dahlgren, and Natalie Shields and her fiancé Andrew Hazelton; as well as great-grandchildren, Lucas, Nathan and Mathew Jaeger; Grace and Shepherd Koleckar; Odin Shields; Dylan and Michele Shields-Hazelton, Isis Dahlgren, Dimitri Wayman.

Memorial services will be held on Friday, April 10, 3:00 pm, at First United Methodist Church, 1338 East Santa Clara Street, Ventura, CA 93001. In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to: First United Methodist Church, Music Program or Youth Program.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, 3150 Loma Vista Road, Ventura. Condolences may be sent to TedMayrFuneralHome.com.