Ann Harrigan
- Ann Harrigan, 90, was called home to our Lord on Sunday, July 15, 2018. Born to Mary and Martin Simko in 1927, she touched our hearts with a life of joy and inspiration. Ann was a gifted artist and writer. She sketched personal greeting cards and penned custom verse for everyone –– families when they moved out of her neighborhood, fellow bowlers when they won tournaments, the mailman upon his retirement. She took ribbons at the County Fair for her painted gourds and her Halloween pumpkins were legendary. Her signature –– AnnOriginal.
Ann was bubbly, fun and self assured. She left her small town of Ironwood, Michigan with two gal pals days after graduation in 1945 and took a flat in Chicago. Her friends returned home to wed lovers returning from WWII, but Ann stayed on in the big city, thriving as a secretary and then creative for a small ad agency. She also worked for Mayor Martin Kennelly at City Hall and in PR for the World’s Fair of 1954.
She met her life partner at a card game at her brother’s house on Chicago’s South Side. Ann would reminisce about how her beloved Bob rushed into the house carrying steaks wrapped in butcher paper and stopped in his tracks the moment he saw her. The same night he drove her back to her apartment in his his Chevy Bel Air convertible –– and the rest is history.
The couple made a home in a Chicago suburb where Ann built a small art studio and sold her oil paintings of nature. They created a bar space resembling the deck of a ship and it was the place to sail away –– Frank Sinatra belting from the hifi; highballs flowing into glasses wrapped in tiny life preservers on holidays. One year they exchanged anniversary cards in their special corner and laughed heartily upon discovering each purchased the same Hallmark –– a drawing of a little man with open arms that read, “Everything I have is yours.”
Together they raised two daughters. Ann loved to sew purple vests and bell bottoms and crochet ponchos for her girls –– she nailed 70’s fashion with a flair.
In the late 80’s, the couple retired to Sun Lakes, AZ where Ann joined the women’s club and spent years pouring her creativity into crafts to help raise money to beautify the clubhouse. She joined a local dance troupe and “Pure Gold” would tap to Broadway tunes or do the Cowboy Boogie as men and women from our greatest generation gathered for evenings of entertainment.
Her husband loved her lust for life. When he took ill in 1991, she kept him at home and never left his side, reading him the morning paper, dressing him each day, and making sure his Bobby Burns classics from his native Scotland were within reach.
Ann loved books –– especially anything about the golden age of Hollywood. She adored Clark Gable movies and listening to big band music. She was a lifetime Chicago Cubs fan and beamed with pride when they took the World Series in 2016. By then her voice was but a mere whisper, but in younger years, you would have heard Ann Harrigan cheer that glorious victory from three blocks beyond the screen door.
Ann donned her life canvas with bold splashes of vivid color and made you feel on top of the world just to be in her aura. She is forever our Ann Original. Her spirit lives on in her two daughters and beloved grandson. She is also survived by two siblings. A private Memorial Service is being held where she was a longtime parishioner and volunteer at St. Stevens Church in Sun Lakes, AZ. Donations can be made to the Holy Cross Hospice in Gilbert, AZ holycrosshospice.com where she was cared for in her final months by a truly amazing team of loving providers who showered her in comfort. Her life can be celebrated at AnnHarrigan.com.