Ann Elizabeth Pampel
Ann Elizabeth Pampel, a lifelong resident of Greenwich, passed away at the King Street Home in Rye Brook Village, NY, early on the morning of August 21, 2022. She was just days away from celebrating her 79th birthday.
The eldest daughter of Richard Oppenheim and Patricia Burnett, Ann (known to many as “Annie”) was born in Evergreen Park, IL on September 2, 1943. She spent her early years in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka before her family relocated to Greenwich in 1951.
Annie learned about struggle and perseverance early on, courageously overcoming challenges associated with her low vision. She graduated from Greenwich High School in 1963, married two years later and had a daughter (to whom she taught elementary French). She learned to cook, authored two novels, and volunteered three afternoons a week at Greenwich Hospital for over twenty years. She worked closely with an interior designer to renovate her kitchen, choosing the paint colors, ceramic tiles, and countertops herself — a remarkable accomplishment for someone with visual challenges.
An artist’s daughter, she was fond of “beautiful things”. For years she collected Herend porcelain, novelty Limoges boxes, and Waterford crystal. She was also known for regularly visiting the florist’s and coming home with cut flowers that she arranged into bouquets herself. Towards the end of her life, as her own garden began to flourish, she delighted in the roses, peonies, and lilacs loved ones would cut and bring into the house for her.
Annie was an Anglophile. At the age of nine, while following Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on TV, she developed a lifelong fascination with the British royal family. From there, she became intensely interested in British literature, history, and culture. She greatly admired Jane Austen’s work — Pride and Prejudice was her all-time favorite novel and inspired her to write her own fiction. Of the many Masterpiece Theatre series she watched, she loved “Upstairs Downstairs”, “Poldark” (the 1975-77 production), and “Little Dorrit” the most.
When she wanted to kick back and have a good time, she turned to comedy or music. Bob and Ray’s skits as well as Hal Holbrook’s “Mark Twain Tonight” and the movie “My Cousin Vinny” always got her laughing. In music, her tastes included but were not limited to Benny Goodman, Lena Horne, George Benson, the Beatles, Elton John, Dusty Springfield, James Taylor and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Annie was predeceased by her sister, Stephanie Oppenheim, who died in 1973; and by her husband of 29 years, John Byron Pampel (known to friends and loved ones as “J.B.”), who died in 1994. She is survived by her daughter, Madeline Pampel of Greenwich; and by six siblings:
Jane O. Katz (Stephen) of Greenwich, Joan Oppenheim of Southport, Deborah Farrington of Portland, Oregon, Richard W. Couch Jr. (Barbara) of Hanover, NH, Thomas B. Couch (Melanie Anderson) of Evanston, IL, and John R. Couch (Xiu) of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, among them Elizabeth Ruttkamp (Travis) of Cos Cob and Rachael Workman (Chad Scheller) of Fairfield.
Madeline Pampel wishes to thank the Intermediate Care, Surgery A, and Palliative Care departments at Greenwich Hospital, and in particular, Drs. Bain, Cho, Du, Montgomery, and Pallett for their support, compassion, and tireless efforts to make Annie as comfortable as possible during her final weeks. She is also profoundly grateful for the outstanding work and dedication of her mother’s private caregivers: Mikhalia McGlashan of Angel’s Care Agency in Stamford and Irene Huerta.
Donations in honor of Annie, may be made to the American Heart Association or the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind.