Ann Cheney

Niantic — June 5, 2020, Ann Hathaway Cheney, loving mother of two children, fought a brief battle with cancer and died unexpectedly.

She started life Feb. 23, 1940, in Pomona, Calif., to Richard and Gertrude Withington Hathaway. She attended high school and college there.

She located to East Lyme in 1974 and she obtained a technical engineering degree in Norwich at the age of 43 and worked at Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, as an engineering technical writer for 22 years.

Ann had a passion for quilting and participated in the construction of the East Lyme Bicentennial Quilt which is displayed at The Thomas Lee House and Museum.

She was involved with the American Field Service (AFS) and hosted students from the Philippines and New Zealand with whom she maintained friendships for the remainder of her life.

Ann was an excellent cook and belonged to and served as coordinator for a local Gourmet Dinner Club.

She was the vice president of the “Junkins Family Association” and a member of the New England Historical Genealogical Society and did extensive genealogy research with ancestral roots back to Norwich, the Mayflower, Scotland and England.

Ann was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her lifetime companion, William Jacobik of Niantic; her two children, Kevin Cheney and his wife Yvette Dionne of Gales Ferry, and Heather Cheney of Barnet, Vt.; her sisters, Sandra Pearson of Norwich, and Elaine Aldridge of Texas; and several nieces, nephews and cousins. She also leaves behind her extended family from across the world and many close friends.

Fulton-Theroux Funeral Home, Niantic, is handling arrangements. Please visit www.fultontherouxniantic.com for tributes and updated service information. Donations may be made in Ann’s memory to the American Fields Service https://www.afsusa.org/donate/ or the “Junkins Family Association,” 90 Goss Hill Road, Huntington, MA, 01050.