Anne Michelle Abbott was born in Moscow Idaho on June 3, 1975 to Michael and Janice Doherty. She was a 1993 graduate of Cascade High School and had a degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Seattle. Anne was the design manager at Tulalip Data Services for the Tulalip Tribes until 2015 when she joined her husband James in the operation of their restaurant, Buck’s American Cafe in Everett. Anne had fiercely fought breast cancer enduring chemotherapy, radiation treatments and surgery, and her diagnosis was that the cancer was gone but new symptoms appeared at the end of November 2021 and a brain mass was discovered. On January 15, 2022 Anne died peacefully at her home in Lake Stevens in the loving company of her family, her mother Janice, and her loyal dog Levi.
Anne enjoyed the outdoors, from her high school crew team, hiking, riding, skiing and four-wheeling. She loved her sleep time but never missed an opportunity for day trips with the family to the waterfront or to Whidbey Island, or weekends at Long Beach where she loved to fly kites and play with the kids or beach comb with Levi.
Anne and James joked that “our getting hitched was ordained”. Their mothers were best friends since the first grade in Troy, Idaho, and each of them had three children. Marie had Jennifer, James and Dan; Janice had Jennifer, James and Anne. The families both moved to Everett and the kids spent lots of time together bike riding, picnicking and swimming at Forest Park. Especially fun were the long walks to the Everett Theater for 99 cent double features.
Anne’s dad and James’ dad both worked for GTE, and at one point both were offered a transfer. Mike took the offer and the Dohertys moved to Texas but Terry and the Abbotts stayed in Everett. Anne was established, graduated, and had been hired by the Everett Parks Dept. and she didn’t want to leave her friends, so she arranged to stay with James’ sister Jennifer through the summer. Anne and James spent more and more time together, baking cookies, taking drives and watching more movies. By the end of that summer they were inseparable, almost. Anne joined her family that fall and while she was there she planned her continuing education, enrolling at the Art Institute. She moved back and settled in the Green Lake area taking classes and working as a hostess at The Old Spaghetti Factory. James’ visits to Green Lake quickly became permanent. During this time they enjoyed the city and all it offered including walks around the lake, rock concerts, laser shows and visiting Golden Gardens. One late night they found themselves all alone at the Seattle Center, where they commandeered the old pirate ship ride. A frequent end to the evening was breakfast at Beth’s Cafe.
When Anne graduated she moved to Fremont and worked at MaxArt while James took the job of head chef at Buck’s. James and his mom bought a big old house in Everett and James asked Anne to move in. She did and the two of them, with lots of help from their many friends, converted it into a duplex (It was at this point she told him that they would never move into another house if it wasn’t “already ready already”). That summer they moved into the top unit and it was here that Anne let James know that he might get proposed to if he didn’t pop the question first. So, in the holiday season of 1998, on a snowy night in Forest Park, James four wheeled through the snow and ice, past the barricades to the place where they had shared their first kiss, When they reached their spot James jumped out of the warm car and hurried to the passenger side. He knelt in the snow and asked the most beautiful lady he had ever known to be his wife, his partner through whatever may come, for the rest of their lives.
Anne’s parents had come up for the holidays. It was important for Anne to be able to tell them of the engagement in person. At a gathering at Anne’s sister Jennifer and Mike Gray’s home she shared the good news and after the initial shock, Janice and Mike gave their blessing.
So, on August 15, 1999 they all partied like it was 1999! Anne and James were married in front of their family and friends on the water front in the old Everett Yacht Club. It was a typical August day in Washington, grey and drizzly, so the ceremony had to be moved in from the deck. The box of Blues Brothers sun glasses, meant for the attendees, was forgotten. Regardless, it was a magical evening of dining, dancing and testimonials, catching up with family and old friends. The prime rib and salmon dinner was exceptional, the dinner service and bar staffed by family and friends from both Buck’s and Arnies. When the evening had wound down, hugs, kisses and handshakes passed around, Anne and James were able to hook up with a small group of friends for Chinese food which was sorely needed since neither one of them had been able to find time to actually eat.
The next day was a typical August day in Washington, 80 degrees and sunny. James’s mother Marie lived on the bottom floor of their duplex and the newlyweds stopped by before leaving on a spontaneous honeymoon down the coast. It was then that they realized that the gold rings which have been used in many of their family weddings had been left at the Yacht Club. In a bit of a panic they went back to the yacht club where James stealthily climbed the fence around the dumpsters onto the deck and with Anne’s moral support was able to find the gold heirloom family rings. They headed down the coast and James saw proof that he had married an angel. Previously the only harp he had ever heard was played by angels on Saturday morning cartoons. But on their wedding Anne’s cousin Amy who had come from Idaho played the harp plus, when they went to the passenger seating on the ferry they’d taken from Port Townsend a man was playing a full sized harp.
For the next year the top floor of the duplex was usually filled with family and friends. Their son Kevin was often there along with the dogs Zeus and Scout. Anne bought her first Jeep Wrangler and always looked forward to the “yearly removal”. Anne would wait until James had a few of his friends over and then say that she “wanted to take her top off”, eliciting some strange looks until the friends realized they would be taking the hard top off the jeep.
In 2000 Anne and James bought their first home together. The Marysville house was larger with more room for the dogs and it was closer to Kevin. 2004 was a big year. Not only was Anne pregnant with Rowan but they bought a new home in Lake Stevens where they could raise their family. In the recession of 2009 Anne found herself unemployed for the first time. This proved to be an unexpected blessing since it allowed her to be a stay at home mom for three year old Virginia and for Rowan who was in half day kindergarten. Later she began work at TDS and was quickly elevated to design manager. In 2015 Anne left her job at the Tulalip Tribes and joined James to operate Buck’s. She quickly learned the ins and outs of being self employed. The many hats she wore were IT director, accounting and payroll, and inventory. In her spare moments she managed the front of the house. At Buck’s she enjoyed working with Rowan in the dining room and with Virginia, adding their personal touch to the restaurant. Her genuine, heartfelt hospitality was enjoyed by all her customers.
Kindness defined Anne. She had a huge heart and never missed an opportunity to give to others, from working with Housing Hope, the Assistance League’s Cook’s Home Tour, Lake Stevens Aquafest and volunteering for nursery or children’s programs in their church. She was a caregiver, someone to call if you needed a ride to the doctor, someone to sit with you in the DMV or anything in between. This was the case when she took James’ mother Marie to the ER thinking she had appendicitis. The diagnosis was lung cancer. Thank God Anne was with Marie.
Anne was preceded in death by her father Mike Doherty, her father-in-law Terry Abbott, mother-in-law Marie Mathis and step-son Kevin Bazzell.
She is survived by her husband James, her mother Janice and her beautiful daughters Rowan and Virginia. She is also survived by her siblings Jennifer (Michael) Gray, James Doherty, Jenifer Tuttle and Daniel Abbott as well as many beloved aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
“Anne always looked for the best in others. She was not one to complain even when struck by breast cancer, even though it was in the Covid pandemic when no one could go into the hospital with her for her treatments, when she lost her hair, the aches and pains, and the sickness. She was always available for others, especially her children. Even if I know nothing else of her, her strength, dignity and care for others make her one of the strongest, bravest, noble people I have ever known.”
James
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.9.5