Ann S. Thurmond

Frances Ann Sexton Thurmond, died in Houston on Sunday, the 8th of August 2025. Ann was born in Atlanta, Georgia on the 1st of January 1939, to Mr. and Mrs. George Edward Sexton, Sr. She was 86 years of age.

In addition to her parents, Ann was predeceased by her brother, George Edward Sexton, Jr.; and her son, William Richards Thurmond who died this past July.

Ann is survived by her husband of sixty-five years, Gerald Pittman Thurmond; their two children, Gerald Pittman Thurmond, Jr., and Susan Ann Thurmond; and grandchildren, Melissa Thurmond, and Sean Thurmond.

Ann grew up in Atlanta, graduated from Murphy High School in 1956, and received a bachelor's degree in 1960 and a master's degree in 1963, both in music education from the University of Georgia where she was awarded a bassoon scholarship for the University Concert Band and Orchestra.

She was Majorette Captain with the Redcoat Marching Band, Commander of the Angel's Flight with the Arnold Air Society, officer of the Student Council and Kappa Delta social sorority and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, selected for Kappa Delta Pi honorary education fraternity, and was tapped into Mortar Board and elected to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities. Ann was a founding member of the University of Georgia President's Club.

She taught music in Lexington and Atlanta, Georgia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Houston, Texas, Washington, D.C., and was assistant instructor for the University of Maryland's Center for Management Development, all in cities where her husband was an attorney for Gulf Oil and Chevron.

Living in Houston since 1988, Ann is a past president of the Houston Alumnae Chapter of Kappa Delta social sorority, she was named the 1997 Outstanding Kappa Delta Alumna in Texas and was the 2005 recipient of the Order of the Emerald award for service to Kappa Delta.

She has been an active member of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church serving on many committees, a volunteer mediator for the Harris County Courts through the Dispute Resolution Center of the Harris County Bar Association, a lifetime member of the Friends of Child Advocates, a lifetime member of the Houston Symphony League, a lifetime member of National Mortar Board, member of the International Graphoanalysis Society, and American Council on Exercise.

A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 28th of August at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road in Houston, where Rev. Martin J. Bastian and Rev. Gregory W. Cross are to officiate.

Immediately following the service, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in the nearby Bagby Parish Hall.

Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private inurnment in St. Martin’s Garden of the Holy Cross.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed in Ann's memory to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road, Houston, Texas 77056, or to the charity of your choice.

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