OBITUARY: Ann Emerson
Ann Emerson died in her home Tuesday, August 26, 2014, after surrendering peacefully and courageously to a six-month long ordeal with pancreatic cancer. She was 71 years of age. Born Olivia Ann Bradley on June 6, 1943, she was the first of four daughters born to Thurman and Thelma Bradley of Boise, Idaho. After graduating from Borah High School in Boise, Ann went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Boise State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Utah State University.
Ann moved to Massachusetts in 1983 to become the first director of The Emerson Umbrella, a community arts center in Concord. She left that position in 1986 to pursue a career in secondary school art education.
After teaching art at Lawrence Academy in Groton, and The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, NY, she spent the last 17 years teaching art at Groton School. She was Head of the Art Department for many of those years.
Ann was a much-admired teacher who inspired in her students a love of art making and enthusiasm for the creative process. She was a master at building self-confidence in her students and her kind, gentle approach made each one feel valued. Ann's energy, vitality and sense of fun reverberated throughout the Groton School community.
An accomplished artist whose skills, talents and imagination were expressed in a wide variety of mediums, Ann found her muse in nature and animals, especially dogs. Her work was most often, playful, provocative and reflected her wonderful wit and sense of humor.
Ann's family, friends, colleagues and students will remember her for her gracious spirit, her energetic presence, her warmth and her famous smile. We are all better people for having known her; she will be sorely missed.
Ann Emerson is survived by her mother, Thelma Bradley, two sisters, Pamela Jabs and Colleen Thompson, all of Boise, ID; her daughters, Jana Rodebeck of Dayton, OH, and Meredith Sudborough and eight wonderful grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by her father, Thurman Bradley, and a sister, Dr. Connie-Bradley Mann.
There will be a memorial reception to celebrate Ann Emerson's life, Sunday, Sept. 14, from 2-4 p.m. at the Dillon Art Center at Groton School.
