Our beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Anna (Ann) Jeanne (Troxell) Humphreys died peacefully on April 19, 2021 after fighting a long battle with kidney disease. She was a loving mother and an amazingly strong woman.
Born in Gowan City, Pennsylvania, Ann grew up with her parents George and Helen Troxell and her sister Caroline (Haas). Ann often spoke about how much she enjoyed growing up in a small town with a large extended family. Her parents shared their love of God with her, and her father shared his love of sports, especially his devotion to the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Eagles. Ann remained a steadfast Eagles fan throughout her life.
Ann attended Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and graduated as an RN in May 1953. Shortly afterward, she and three friends drove across the country to live in Long Beach, California, where she worked as a Cardiac Care nurse at the Veterans Hospital in Long Beach. While attending church in Long Beach, she met Navy officer Howard Humphreys. The two were married on September 2, 1955.
After their wedding, Howard and Ann moved first to Anaheim, where their children Mark and Judy (Davis) were born, and then to Santa Ana where they lived until Howard’s death in 1994. They were founding members of West Anaheim Methodist Church, and they made lifelong friendships with people they met there.
The Humphreys family made annual epic car trips across the country to visit friends and family in Pennsylvania, and Ann successfully achieved her personal goal of visiting every state capital at least once. The family has great memories of frequent camping trips: Doheny Beach and O’Neill Park were favorite spots. Skilled and creative in her crafting, Ann was also an excellent seamstress, cake decorator, and flower arranger. She loved to read books of all types, particularly the Bible, and was an avid Scrabble and pinochle player. Although Ann enjoyed being at home caring for her children, her gardens, and her beloved cats, when her children were in high school, she went back to work as an RN for the US Postal Service until she retired in 1992.
Ann had long missed living in a rural area, so upon Howard’s sudden death, she fulfilled their shared goal of retiring away from the city. Ann moved alone to the property they had purchased in Junction City, Trinity County, California. She loved her secluded and isolated home overlooking the Trinity River. She set up many birdfeeders that attracted birds to her porch as well as occasional unwanted animals, including bears. She learned how to fix things herself, and she never complained when the power or water went out for two weeks at a time. As the years passed and she began to have health problems, Ann reluctantly agreed to move back to Southern California to be closer to her children and grandchildren.
Ann is survived by her son Mark (Gail) of Irvine, CA; daughter Judy (Steve Davis) of Irvine, CA; grandchildren Adam, Daniel (Megan), and Brandon (June) Humphreys; Lawrene Bova; Jonathan (Katy) Davis; great-grandchildren William and Madeleine Humphreys; and her sister Caroline Haas of Bear, DE.
Mark and Judy would like to thank both the Irvine Cottages staff for lovingly caring for Ann during the last three years of her life and CareCHOICES Hospice for their care during the past month.
A generous, kind, and loving person, Ann was a wonderful friend to many, and she will be missed by all who knew her.
A memorial service is being held at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana, on Saturday, May 15, at 10:00 a.m. Those wishing to attend are encouraged to wear their favorite bright colors in honor of Ann’s love of all things colorful. Please contact the family if you plan to attend. In Ann’s memory, please consider a donation in her name to the Irvine Animal Care Center where Ann adopted her last treasured cat, Happy.
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