Elizabeth Ann (Bartlett) Santi, 89, passed away on April 10, 2019. She was born on March 25, 1930 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado to parents Clifford and Eleanor Bartlett, who were ranchers in nearby Meeker, Colorado. She was the first in her family born in a hospital. When she was three years old, the family moved to Inglewood, California, where she spent the rest of her childhood years. Upon completing high school, she attended San Diego State University, where she completed a degree in Education and began teaching elementary school in San Diego. In 1954, she married Dante Ralph Santi (b. 1924, d. 2016), a naval aviator stationed at Miramar. They lived in San Diego, her favorite city, until his discharge in 1955 and then moved to Des Moines, Iowa and then Rapid City, South Dakota. During this time, she and Dante had three children: Karen Michele (b. 1956, d. 1989), James Scott (b. 1957), and Paul Michael (b. 1964).
In August 1973, her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, and then to Houston 16 months later. Part of the motivation for these moves was to find relief from her debilitating allergies and environmental sensitivities, that plagued her through her 40s and 50s and even into her 60s. Her most difficult period was the year from summer 1978 to summer 1979, when she lived in several places around the country, trying to find a climate and environment that was manageable. Her health improved in later years, but she always had to be careful about diet and exposure to allergens.
These experiences, along with growing up in the depression with an alcoholic father, gave her both the fierce tenacity and tender heart that we all knew her for. She was at her best caring for formerly homeless cats and dogs, children in her classes at school who everyone else had given up on, and family who were in times of crisis or who just needed to be encouraged.
Ann is survived by son Jim and wife Dawne (of Houston, Texas), son Paul and wife Michele (of Golden, Colorado), six grandchildren (Antony Guiliano and wife Amanda, Vincent Raffaeli, Dante Francesco, Gianna Gabriella and husband Brandon Testut, Lauren Mae, and Tara Allison), and one great grandson (Simon Marciano).
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18