Anita Kalousdian Pinson

Anita Shake Kalousdian Pinson was born in Ann Arbor on December 27, 1949. She was the oldest of three children and only daughter of Albert and Shake Apkarian Kalousdian. Albert was a WWII veteran. He founded Armen Cleaners and Ann Arbor Auto Supply and ultimately became a supervisor at Ford Motor Company. Shake immigrated to the U.S. in her early 20s. She was a homemaker and a gifted seamstress and tailor who did custom work and alterations from the family’s basement.

As a child, Anita loved making music, paper dolls and playing school. She adored her 2nd grade teacher Nancy and wanted to become a teacher just like her. Nancy was the person who saw Anita’s potential and encouraged her parents to get her piano lessons. She practiced on the piano at school until her parents could afford to buy one.

Anita attended Ann Arbor schools. She was a serious and dedicated student and graduated from Pioneer High School in 1968. She attended the University of Michigan and graduated early with a Bachelors in Music. She went on to earn her Masters in Vocal Performance from Boston University and the University of Michigan.

In this time, she worked as a ballet studio rehearsal accompanist, sang in choirs that toured the world (she often talked about her time in the Canary Islands) and was the alto section leader at Zion Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor. This is where she met her future husband Gary Pinson. (Her return to Michigan from Boston was largely influenced by her growing attachment to Gary - a father of five, 12 years her senior, whom she always thought looked like Robert Redford.)

Five years after their first date - which they marked every October 13th - Anita and Gary were married in July of 1977 under the trees at Gary’s childhood home.

The newlyweds moved to Minnesota with sons Chris, John and Kelly, where she was a teacher in Watertown schools and a section leader and soloist at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church. While living there, Anita and Gary welcomed their daughter Cheyenne.

The family returned to Michigan in 1981 where Anita conducted choir and handbell groups, founded and led a professional women’s singing group Chanté, and taught voice and piano lessons from home while raising Chris and Cheyenne.

The family set out on many adventures - tent camping across the country, sailing the Great Lakes (almost going down in a couple significant storms) and flying their 4 seater plane to favorite destinations for which Anita earned her Private Pilot License.

Anita taught in Northville, Grosse Point and Traverse City before she found her home teaching elementary music at Pine Lake School in Bloomfield Hills where she was a beloved teacher until her retirement in 2012.

Retirement provided her opportunity for a bonus career where she could work more for less pay. She poured her love for history and music education into writing and publishing an award winning children’s book Voices Across the Lakes; classroom life called her back as a pre-school assistant; she was a Greenfield Village volunteer, a board member for numerous organizations including music education nonprofit Accent Pontiac and the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society, and was an election official for our local and national elections. She was an involved member and leader in her church as an elder and mentor, volunteering in Puerto Rico after damaging hurricanes, leading the Kirk Singers, participating in book studies, coordinating retreats for the women’s group, and a key member of numerous other committees.

She loved to travel, and she and Gary explored the world together including cruising the Danube, exploring the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, The Baltic Sea, South America and Europe in addition to trips to see their children in Arkansas, Texas, Chicago and Idaho, and their favorite escape, Traverse City. Anita would also make an annual Broadway pilgrimage with her daughter to New York City. She was a voracious reader, a gifted gardener, and loved working with her hands - baking, knitting, cross-stitching, quilting and more.

She is most remembered for her ability to bring people together. She loved connecting people and finding reasons to gather and do something special. She was always planning something and filled the calendars of those around her with joyous gatherings - caroling, crafting, tea, dinners, surprise parties, holidays, birthdays, outings and more. She was gifted in the kitchen, trying new recipes and spending weekends baking so there would always be something in the freezer in case guests stopped by or if she needed something to deliver to if there was an unexpected reason to offer care.

Her passion, talents and love will be dearly missed by all that knew her.

Anita is survived by her husband of 48 years Gary, her daughter Cheyenne Pinson, son Chris Pinson (wife Rhonda and children Carly and Bennett) and her family Melanie, John, Marie, Karen, Laura, Robert, Beverly, Phillip, Susan, Gloria, Eric, and Melissa.

She is preceded in death by her parents Albert and Shake and her brother Edward.

A service and celebration of her life will be held at Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, MI on Thursday August 28 at 11am. Her family will receive visitors 10-11 with a reception immediately following the service. Flowers are welcome and memorial donations can be made in her name to Accent Pontiac https://www.accentpontiac.org/. She will be laid to rest in The Preserve at the All Saints Cemetery in Waterford.