Born June 3, 1934, Ann celebrated her 86th birthday just days before with family and friends at one her favorite local restaurants. Although in recent months Ann was starting to feel all of her 86 years, it rarely stopped her from participating in the things she loved. Ann was a voracious reader and would often read two or more books a week. A renewed interest in jigsaw puzzles kept her entertained in the daytime and nightly meals with family and friends almost always included playing a game of some sort, usually dominoes, a game she excelled at and most often won!
Lois Ann Boufford was born in Windsor Ontario, Canada. Her father Herbert, mother Audrey and sister, Myrna, moved to southern California when she was in high school and ironically, it was in southern California that she first donned a pair of ice skates! She participated in competitive speed skating in Long Beach, CA and liked to drive around town in her red convertible MG! Her family later moved to Palmdale and that is where she met the love of her life, Michael A. Terlizzi, while attending a dance at the local Elks Lodge with her parents. Mike and Ann loved to dance and on August 4, 1961, that dancing turned into a more than 50 year marriage. Due to Mike’s career as an aerospace field engineer, in 1962, Mike and Ann and their three daughters (Renee, Deena and Tina) made the first of nine relocations that would take them back and forth from California to Alaska, New York, Texas, Mississippi and Maryland over a 13 year period. During this time, Ann endured coordinating moves, multiple changes of schools for three children, making new friends (for herself and the kids!) and life on the road while traveling cross country with 3 children and a variety of animals in the family station wagon! Ann did all of this with a smile on her face and adventure in her heart and always made the travel fun with car games and snacks for the kids and the travel bar stocked for the end of the day for her and Mike! Once they got settled into each new location, she would make the house a home by creating beautiful needlepoint, embroidery and even oil paintings. Ann was a very talented artist and seamstress and those that have some of her work are fortunate.
In 1975, the family settled in Simi Valley, CA where they lived for 18 years, at the time, the longest Ann had ever lived in any one place! During their time in Simi Valley, all three of their daughters also lived there and several grandchildren were born! Ann enjoyed gardening and delighted in teaching the children how to embroider and also how to swim, a skill she really never mastered herself, but she sure could teach it! 1993 brought retirement and a move to Las Vegas, the city that captured Ann’s heart from the start! It had everything she loved, great entertainment and food, gaming, a boatload of “built in” friends (other retirees from the aerospace industry) and plenty of opportunity to make new friends. Las Vegas was also just a 5 hour drive from her three daughters and their ever growing families, who at the time all still resided in the Simi Valley area. During Mike and Ann’s time in Las Vegas they had countless visits from friends and family from around the country and were very eager and proud to show off the city they loved and considered their true home. They both enjoyed entertaining and hosted a variety of annual parties that were always joyous occasions.
When Mike passed away in 2013, Ann stayed in their home in Las Vegas for four years and still welcomed visits from family and friends and continued going to the local casinos and shows. The Marra family, Tony, Lori and Joseph, began a ritual of having her over for Sunday dinners at their home, a tradition she treasured dearly. In 2017, she sold her home in Las Vegas and moved cross country yet again, to Ponte Vedra Beach, FL where she lived with her youngest daughter, Tina, and her son-in-law Jon, until she passed. True to form, once she arrived the party started! Tina and Jon enjoyed introducing her to their friends, who embraced her with loving arms, and she quickly became part of their social circle. All who knew her, loved her dearly, and will never forget her competitiveness, wit, intelligence and sense of humor.
Ann is survived by her sister, Myrna and her husband, Gary Evans; her three daughters, Renee (Steve) Lakner, Deena Smith, Tina (Jon) Holland; 8 grandchildren, Shawn, Zachary, Amy, Timothy, Emily, Joseph, Conner, Evan; plus 8 great-grandchildren, Paige, Christian, Hayden, Madison, October, River, Holland and August.
A Celebration of Life for Florida family and friends will be held at the home of Jon and Tina Holland in Ponte Vedra Beach in July before she will make her final cross country move to be laid to rest at Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City, NV alongside her beloved husband, Mike. A Celebration of Life will be held in Las Vegas at a yet to be determined location Sunday, Sept. 20 and service and burial will be will be held on Monday, September 21st at 10:00am. Please contact Tina Holland for information.
Donations may be sent to Community Hospice Care who provided guidance, care and compassion during her final days.
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