Ann (Brownewell) Payne

Ann Payne, Beloved Wife, Mother, Sister, Aunt, Friend, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother, passed away peacefully on January 17, 2024 after a quick, but fierce battle with dementia. Ann was married to the love of her life, John Payne for 45 years, and together they raised a beautiful, blended family with their four children: Daughter, GB Litchfield (and husband Dave); Stepson, Jak Payne (and girlfriend Celeste); Son, Marty Frannea (and wife Nicole); and Stepdaughter, Elisa Spradlin (and husband Tim). Ann’s 8 grandchildren were her pride and joy: Henry, Rufus, Luke, Callie, Irie, Ben, Sam, and Aspen, and she was blessed with 4 (soon to be 5) great grandchildren: Koa, Axel, Guin, Sofia, and Ryder. Ann was devastated when her stepson, Jak Payne, passed away from lung cancer in April 2023. Ann is survived by her husband, John Ross Payne, of Atascocita, Texas, her sisters, Margaret Baker, of Kingwood, TX, Karen (Ronald) Schmick, of Morris, IL, Barbara (Glenn) Petzold of Reno, NV and her great aunt, Patricia Welch, of Fayetteville, AR.

Ann was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma as Patricia Antoinette Brownewell on July 28, 1943 to Lt. Colonel John L. Brownewell and Elizabeth C. Brownewell. Ann’s dad was in the Army Air Corps, and Ann lived in 13 different cities growing up, including Honolulu, HI and Bremerhaven, Germany, before her family settled in Tucson, Arizona. Ann went to Amphi High School in Tucson and met her future husband, John Frannea, while attending school there. Ann and John both attended college at the University of Arizona and graduated in 3 years. Ann graduated with a Home Economics degree and was a member of the Tri Delta Sorority. Ann and John married in September 1963. They moved to Midland, Texas for John’s work with Mobil Oil Corporation, and they were blessed with their two children, Genevieve Elizabeth (GB) and Martin Todd (Marty). After 3 years in Midland and one year in Washington DC, they moved to Austin, Texas when John started a new career working for the Texas Department of Human Welfare. Ann stayed at home to raise their two children and became an artisan, creating beautiful weavings on the huge wooden loom in her studio on West Avenue. Ann and John divorced in 1972 and Ann went to work for the Texas Department of Human Services and the Texas Education Agency as a lobbyist to the Texas Legislature. Ann was a single mom for several years.

Ann met her second husband, John Payne, in 1975. Ann and John’s paths crossed at Fred’s fruit stand on Lamar (in Austin, Texas) one Halloween as they both locked eyes on the perfect pumpkin. Haggling over that very pumpkin, they fell in love. In 1978, Ann & John slipped through the locked gate at the Zilker Botanical Gardens with their four children, GB, Jak, Marty, and Elisa and married at sunrise in the rose garden.

Ann was a tiny woman (4’11” and proud of it!) with a big personality – the disciplinarian in the family. She managed the finances and worked full time. She was smart, had amazing style, and liked everything in the house just so. She loved to decorate in black and white with splashes of color. She always had flowers in the house and loved Russell Stover chocolates – especially Roman Nougats and Molasses Chews. She valued family over everything, and she was always there for her kids and grandkids, no matter what they needed.

Ann and John dreamed of owning their own business. John had worked for the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin for 16 years as a Rare Book Librarian. In 1992, Ann and John took a leap of faith and founded Payne & Associates, a Rare Book and Manuscript Appraisal Business. Once they became Empty Nesters, they dreamed of building a home with a view of the Austin skyline from which they would run their appraisal business.

Ann and John found the ideal site for their new home in the Westlake Highlands on Camino Alto, Austin, Texas, where they fell in love with the sweeping view that stretched from downtown Austin to the UT Tower, with the Texas Capitol in between and Lake Austin winding through the foreground. Their vision for their new home was a contemporary masterpiece with towering windows to honor the view of Austin and the surrounding Texas Hill Country, landscaped with gardens reminiscent of the Japanese gardens they both loved. They worked with Richard Payne, a renowned Texas architect and architectural photographer (and John’s brother), to bring their vision to life.

Ann and John ran their appraisal business from Camino Alto from 1992 until 2022. Their life’s work included appraising General Charles (Chuck) Yeager’s account of breaking the sound barrier, Andy Warhol’s “time capsules” and archive, Aldous Huxley’s Estate, Fred Todd’s Collection of Tennessee Williams manuscripts, Mary Ferrell’s collection of John F. Kennedy material, Joyce Carol Oates’s personal literary archive, Sarah Weddington’s archive, Richard M. Nixon Presidential Archive, and most recently, Leonard A. Lauder’s postcard collection, to name just a few.

Ann and John’s kids, grandkids, and great grandkids visited often, and Camino Alto was the inspiration for endless games of Mahjongg, feeding the Koi fish and catching tadpoles in the Koi pond, swimming in the reflection pool overlooking the Austin skyline, and entertaining Ann and John’s Birman cats, Yin & Yang. Ann was the heart and soul of her family and she will be missed beyond measure.

There will be a private memorial service for Ann at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association: https://act.alz.org