Anne Rosemary Laurance

Anne Rosemary Laurance died peacefully in her sleep on the morning of March 23, 2026. She was born in Brainerd, Minnesota, on October 13, 1931 to Carl Joseph and Monica Mary Magdalene (Eisenmenger) Waldmann. Anne attended St. Francis Elementary School and Brainerd High School, graduating in 1949.

She loved music, including classical music, as well as gospel and country music that she heard via high-powered Chicago radio stations such as WGN and WLS, famous for its "National Barn Dance" radio show. She saw an enormous number of first-run movies through her job as ticket taker at the Brainerd Theater. She also worked at her school newspaper, and did the layout for the high school news items in the Brainerd Dispatch.

Anne entered Marquette University in 1949 and graduated in 1953 with majors in English, philosophy, and elementary education. While there, she met fellow student Neal Louis Laurance of Winsted, Minnesota. The two were introduced on a train returning to Milwaukee from Minneapolis after a school break in the fall of 1950. They married on August 24, 1953, in Brainerd, shortly after Anne’s graduation.

Anne taught in the Milwaukee Public Schools until the birth of their first child, Jeanne Marie, in 1954, when she stepped away to devote herself to her family. The Laurances moved to Urbana, Illinois, for Neal’s graduate studies, and two more children followed: David Charles in 1956 and Rita Louise in 1958. In 1960, the family settled in Dearborn, Michigan, after Neal accepted a position with the Ford Motor Company’s independent research laboratory. Their fourth child, Emily Rose, was born in 1964.

While living in the Detroit area, Anne pursued graduate study at the University of Detroit, focusing on American history and theology. There she deepened a commitment to social justice and public advocacy grounded in her Catholic faith.

In 1970, Anne and her family moved to Ann Arbor. Soon after, she joined the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, serving on the administrative staff and as editor of its newsletter. She began traveling throughout Michigan under the auspices of Church Women United, giving presentations on the economics of peace.

In 1984, Anne was appointed Executive Director of Michigan AGENDA, a Lansing-based public policy advocacy organization affiliated with the Michigan Council of Churches. From 1988 to 1994, she served on the board of Groundwork for a Just World, a Detroit organization devoted to peace, human rights, environmental concerns, and women’s issues; she was board chair from 1990 to 1994.

During these years, she was also an active member of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobbying organization in Washington, D.C., participating in four summer legislative seminars. In 1981, Anne became an associate of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and later served as Director of the Associate Program from 1992 to 1996.

She completed an internship in spiritual direction in 1994 and went on to work as a spiritual director, both from her home and through St. Mary’s Student Parish, where she remained an active member for more than fifty years.

Throughout her life Anne cultivated a wide variety of interests, from the practical to the sublime. Through years of homemaking she honed her talents as a seamstress and a cook. Her lifelong love of reading and books fed her interests in history, poetry, fiction, and art. She and Neal were regular and enthusiastic concert attendees; they also traveled extensively, visiting family and friends across the United States, as well as taking trips to Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Central America.

Following Neal's death in 2019, Anne moved to the Balfour Senior Living Community (now Clarendale) in Ann Arbor where she served as president of the residents' council and made many new friends. Anne’s family is deeply grateful for the care she received in the last few months of her life from the staff at Clarendale and St Croix Hospice.

Anne was preceded in death by her husband, Neal, her parents, Carl and Monica Waldmann, and her brothers, John and Michael Waldmann. She is survived by children, Jeanne Horvath (Lawrence), David Laurance (Nancy Lewis), Rita Laurance of Ann Arbor, and Emily Laurance (Kevin McLaughlin) of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; grandchildren, Elaine Longoria (Noe) of Cedar Springs, Michigan, Peter Laurance (Melissa) of The Colony, Texas, Jenn Lewis (Luis Restrepo) of Los Angeles, California; and great-grandchildren, Veronica and Vivienne Longoria, Dexter, Charles, and Elisa Laurance, and Damian Restrepo. She is also survived by sister, Mary Meyer (Don) of Roseville, Minnesota; sister-in-law, Gail Waldmann of Abilene, Texas; brothers-in-law, Dean Laurance of Edina, Minnesota and John Laurance S.J. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; sisters-in-law, Jane Laurance (David Nelson) of Hopkins, Minnesota, Joan Guggemos of St Paul, Minnesota, Margaret Hake (Robert) of Rochester, Minnesota, and Marian Ramirez of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania; as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Donations in Anne’s memory can be sent to Food Gatherers, Network Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, or the Adrian Dominican Sisters.