Ann Kemp Breaux

.Ann Kemp Breaux died peacefully at home Friday February 24, 2012, at the age of 80. The daughter of a steelworker/farmer and housewife, Ann was born in 1931 in Wylam, Alabama and lived in Hueytown until her high school graduation. She attended the University of Alabama at age 16, the first woman to win the Gorgas Medal and Scholarship. Upon earning her baccalaureate degree in chemistry, Ann became one of the first women research chemists at the Ethyl Corporation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. There she met and married Charles Breaux, a chemical engineer at the Esso Standard Oil Refinery. He fell in love with her at first sight and told her he was going to marry her at the end of their first date. She thought he was out of his mind. Shortly after their marriage in 1955, Charles was hospitalized with an extended illness. After his recovery, he decided to become a physician, and Ann put him through medical school. Her children have always been amazed at how she overcame polio as a toddler and rheumatoid arthritis as a teenager to become a campus beauty at the University, work fulltime, and raise a child in Baton Rouge, while supporting her husband’s education in New Orleans. In 1972, Ann returned to Alabama with Charles to help open Mercy Hospital, later known as Cooper Green Hospital. She was a dedicated volunteer there for many years, while also actively supporting the Cherokee Bend Garden Club, the Birmingham Opera Guild, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Alabama Youth Symphony, and the Mountain Brook High School Band. She and her family have been a significant part of Mountain Brook Baptist Church for many years.

She leaves behind her beloved husband of 56 years, Dr. Charles W. Breaux; four children, Chuck, Ann-Marie, Stan, Chris; seven grandchildren, Paul, Sean, Laura, Steven, Christian, Christopher, Nicholas; her brother Jackie, her sister Linda, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents Ernest and Virginia Ruth Kemp and her brother Eugene. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to Mountain Brook Baptist Church, 3631 Montevallo Road, Mountain Brook, AL, 35213, or the Alabama Chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, PO Box 530623, Birmingham, AL 35253.

Visitation will be Monday, February 27, from 5-7 pm at Ridout’s Valley Chapel, 1800 Oxmoor Road, Homewood. Burial will be Tuesday, February 28 at 9:30 am at Elmwood Cemetery, followed by a memorial service in celebration of her life at 11 am at Mountain Brook Baptist Church.