Saying goodbye to my Nanny is not something I ever wanted to do. I have so many wonderful memories of her that I will hold dear. From sleepovers when I was little, to fun vacations in Las Vegas, and everything in between. All of those times were precious because she was a part of them. They will never be forgotten. Simply by being her, she taught me so many things. She was generous, funny, sweet, humble, and most of all, loving. I hope to always make her proud. She was loved by all who knew her and will be missed terribly. We love you so much Nanny!

One of my favorite photos of me and Brad hanging out with our best buddy, Nanny! Happy Halloween 1976!

Saying goodbye to my Nanny is not something I ever wanted to do. I have so many wonderful memories of her that I will hold dear. From sleepovers when I was little, to fun vacations in Las Vegas, and everything in between. All of those times were precious because she was a part of them. They will never be forgotten. Simply by being her, she taught me so many things. She was generous, funny, sweet, humble, and most of all, loving. I hope to always make her proud. She was loved my all who knew her and will be missed terribly. We love you so much Nanny!

I guess it really is time to start the day. Time to prepare for another funeral for another precious person. My grandma was awesome, and I have many outstanding memories of her and my family. There are so many threads of her running through us that it would be an impossible act to remove her completely from our lives. She is forever ingrained in us.

I'm sorry for your loss.  Ann was one of the best people I have ever met.

We are so sorry to hear about Aunt Ann.  As you already know, she was a great and family loving lady!  Though Justin barely knew her she has left a lasting impression.

Kacy, Jenna, Justin

I am speaking on behalf of Wanda Simpson Healthcare and Partners which consist of myself (Marvette Camp), Wanda Simpson, Roxanne Folaranmi, and Tonya Gardner.

We are so grateful, thankful, and appreciative for 5 years having the opportunity to get to know, take care, and understand Mrs. Ann, my little lady, my sugar, queen, diva, and mommie.  That was all of her pet names; you see all of us played a major role in her care.  For example, she would get mad with Mr. Brad and say "Mazette I am leaving Brad."  I would say where are we going Mrs. Ann.  She would say "your house" but five minutes later "I am going to give him one more chance."  Also, she would ask Wanda, "Are you going dancing tonight?"  When she begins to dance Mrs. Ann would say "you need to put your hips into it and shimmer more.  You are stiff as a board."  Her brother Jack Coggins introduced us to the two of them.  You see, he wanted only the best of care for his amazing and loving sister Ann Westerdahl.

Before moving from Charlottesville, Virginia, she took care of a blind gentleman for approximately 20 years.  She and Mr. Brad paid for his funeral.  She gave time, self, money and never met a stranger.  Definitely, the good times outweigh the bad.  She loved us because she said it quite often and we loved her.  However, she wanted us to take care of Dad, Daddy, or Brad.

When I think of Bradley and Ann Westerdahl, I think of loving, wise, dedication, loyalty, dancer, protector, hell raiser, provider, nurturing, giving, compassionate, humorous, proud and full of dignity.  Oh, how he loved that feisty little lady.  When I think, 1947, she rode in a cab 35 miles to give him the answer I will marry you.  Believe it, 68 years later.  What a wonderful reunion.  Commitment and dedication and the love of being one, what an outstanding journey.  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

Most of all, Mr. Brad, thank you for allowing the team to come into your home and be of service.  You have inspired us to continue to be the best.  We didn't take it for granted.  You are such a wise man to teach us by being knowledgeable.  To the family, lift your eyes unto the hills which cometh your help.  God will see you through.  So in the cometh days, whatever you need we will be there and that's a promise we made to your wife and mom.  You will not be forgotten.  You are heavenly embedded in our hearts.

Thank you

14 February 1988

My Dear Ann,

The past few days I just realized that this year marks another turning point for me.  This month I have lived one-third of my life without you and two-thirds of it with you.  You are my better two-thirds.

Standing in the checkout line at Kroger's with you the other day I read a headline from one of the scandal sheets that said "Wife Kills Husband with Chainsaw."  We laughed about it together when you said I had better watch out.

Oh, we don't have illusions, you and I, that our marriage has been a bed of roses, but we don't go shopping for chainsaws either, do we?  By the way, after more than 41 years even seeing a package of bubble gum in a store gives me sweet memories.

While you were paying the checkout girl, I looked at the other headlines and saw one that said "Study reveals that you can fall in love in three seconds."  You might think that was silly, but that's what I did.

I will always remember how you looked the first time I ever walked into the CRYSTAL.  You had on a pink blouse and had a ribbon in that black hair of yours.  But what impressed me the most was the way your eyes smiled and the way you walked.  Oh the way you walked!  I said to myself  "even though she is an older woman, she is the one for me."  But for the next few months even your mother disputed me on that.  Why, you also turned me down with a big NO the first time I asked you to marry me but, I asked you a second time, didn't I?

Those three seconds, I know, is not the proper way to decide something so important like what you are going to do with the rest of your life.  Surely some of the stupid things we did in the next few months before we got married was enough for one of to say heck with it and go our own ways, but we didn't and still haven't.

Coming back from Honduras last year I was talking to a young lady sitting next to me on the plane and I told her I had been away two weeks and missed you and couldn't wait to get home.  She said "WHAT??"  Here you are traveling around to different countries seeing all these sights and haven't been gone that long and you are homesick!  You still feel like that after all those years of marriage?  What's the secret?  Boy!  I wish I knew, I could sell it and be rich.  And if my luck holds you will be my Valentine for many more years to come.

I want to also thank you for holding this family together and taking care of our girls while I was tramping all over the world.

Also, you can tell how good a mother and nanny you have been when people are always telling me what a nice and close family we have.

All I know is that after all these years "You Still Turn Me On!"

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  

"Wes", Your Husband

My appreciation of Nanny has grown so much over time, yet it's happened so slowly and so subtly that it's taken decades for me to realize the full scope of what she means to me.  For as long as I can remember she's been a part of my life.  Growing up she was the linchpin, the core around which the entire family revolved.  Whether it was a holiday or a birthday, a celebration of any kind had Nanny at the heart of it.  So many of my early memories are filled with her presence.  She was always kind and generous and understanding.  When I was young I simply knew that I loved her.

As I grew a bit older life stopped being quite so simple.  School.  Girls.  Friends.  They all came with that special kind of drama that life as a teenager is fraught with. Nanny always made herself available to listen and offer advice.  Even though she was over half a century my senior those 50 plus years were full of emotion and experience that I couldn't begin to understand the scope of at the time.  Nevertheless, even then I knew that she always had an answer for me.  It might not have always been the easy answer, but it was always the right one.  The one that told me that I didn't always come first, and that was okay.  When I was a teen I simply knew that she was my friend and my confidant, and that I loved her.

As I grew to be a young man with a wife, a job and real responsibilities I looked back and realized that so many little problems I had as a teenager were inconsequential.  The guidance that I got from Nanny during those years, however, was of the greatest importance.  She had shown me that to have someone to love and to love you back is the key to happiness.  Take every opportunity to be good to someone, whether it comes in the form of the change from your pocket or a warm smile.  Be a good person.  Be good to others.  Everything else will work out.  When I was a young man I simply knew that she was my friend and my confidant, that she was my moral compass and the most generous person that I had ever known, and that I loved her.

Only as I reach the center of my life and have a daughter of my own do I think I have the capability to fully  appreciate the remarkable person that Nanny was, and will continue to be, in my heart.  Throughout my life Nanny has been a wonderful and positive influence on the person I've grown into.  However, the scope of her significance has taken decades to fully blossom into the realization of what a generous person she truly was in every aspect of her life.  As I raise my daughter and her namesake, McKenzie Ann, I find myself stretching to reach the benchmark set by Nanny.  A benchmark of love, honesty and integrity.  Of selflessness and compassion.  I can only hope to raise the kind of person that would make Nanny proud to call her namesake, her great granddaughter and her friend.
 
As a grandson  I simply know that she was my friend and my confidant, that she was my moral compass and the most generous person that I have ever known, and that I love her.  As a father I simply know that she embodies everything I want my daughter to be.  My heart's desire is to raise someone who encompasses all of the best qualities in Nanny.  Someone who can light a candle in the darkness and touch lives in a manner so rarely seen, so that her great goodness can continue to shape this world into a better place.

My journey with Nanny began a little over 42 years ago, or as Nanny would call it "35 years ago."  One of the first stories I heard about Nanny was how she immediately stepped in to help my mom give me my first bath...my kicking, crying and changing colors didn't phase her and Nanny, the "baby whisperer" had me clean and cooing in no time.  And that was  that...she was there, right there, from the very beginning.  She made holidays and birthdays events and the best chicken n dumplings, pinto beans, corn bread and bread pudding.  "Stick to your ribs food" she would say.
 
Nanny was my superhero...my do-it-all and then some idol.  And while she certainly had the gift of filling bellies, she had even more of a gift of filling hearts. She was our matriarch, always making sure everyone was ok, whether that was a phone call, a visit, or yelling down through the vent on the stairs to check on me and my cousin, Brad.  She excluded me from nothing.  We tore around town, Brad and I sliding around the backseat of Nanny's Toyota, alternating who would stand up and hang on to the back of Nanny's seat.  We would deliver food to families in need, rearrange the food bank she had in her basement, read mail for a blind friend or simply go visit with an elderly brother and sister who had no other family.  However, it was never framed that we were helping them....we were just visiting friends.

While in school to become a social worker, I frequently joked with her, especially when I was working with a difficult family, that it was all her fault. That was one of my favorite things about Nanny. She was so funny...she was spunky and would rarely refrain from "telling it like it is."  She showed me that being a woman had no rigid parameters...that doing it all didn't mean striving for perfection and exhausting yourself in the process.  It simply meant doing all you WANT to do, leading from your heart, trusting that the ones who really know you and love you will be right there.  Just like she was with me.

Nanny....right now....I don't WANT to go on without you, without your conversation, talks over coffee, family stories, laughing, trying on your wigs, the smell of powder and gardenias and looking at your jewelry together, but I do WANT everyone to know that every little piece of me carries a piece of you.  And, that I thank you for everything, except for the "raw head and bloody bones story you used to get Brad and I to bed" (I could have done without that).  Just know that I will always be that little girl holding onto the back of your seat while you lead the way.

I'm Linda Westerahl, one of Bradley's two sisters.  Brad left home in Moline, IL about the time I was born, so Ann has always been in my life.   Most of the memories I have about Ann involve the many trips back and forth that we took to be together.

My earliest memories of Ann are when I was about 3 years old.  Mom and Dad picked the two of them up from a military stay in Manhattan Kansas.   We owned a Nash car.  Those cars back then had big back windows where kids could curl up and sleep.  That's what I did.  Ann had packed peanut butter and banana sandwiches (we'd never heard of that), for the overnight trip back to Moline.  They smelled pretty bad, but we had some great laughs about it all the way back home.   Dad actually tried one.

Soon after Sue was born and Brad was in Korea, Ann stayed with us in our 3-room upstairs apartment before she moved on to Flint, Michigan.   From her conversations with my folks, I understood that Flint was where Ann could make lots of money working in the auto factories -- making Chevy's, I think.  I can still see Ann buzzing around with her hair in her pin curls, helping Mom clean house, while she was singing country songs under her breath.   I don't think I'd ever heard a country song before that time, and they were really different than the records we had.  I distinctly remember she loved Don Gibson's songs.  All of a sudden we were knee deep in Detective Magazines and Hollywood Gossip.  She loved those stories  she tried to get you to believe them even though she laughed about it when she told you the story.    When Ann left, we all worried about her traveling and working alone  something that just wasn't done back then.  It took a lot of courage.

Ann made biscuits  great, phenomenal biscuits.   The BEST in the world.  When I was in Charlottesville, I asked her to give me the recipe, but she said she'd have to show me. First you take about this much in your hand, add some baking powder, and then a few chunks of Crisco -- cut it in with a fork.  Then, she cut each one out with an over-turned Welch's grape jelly glass, and placed them in a cake pan.  The secret to making them so good, she said, is to take another cake pan, turn it over, and press down on the biscuits.  I asked her, Why?  She said, she didn't know why, but that's what her Grandmother had taught her to do.  That's the secret to making them good, she said.  Apparently, Grandma knew the rules on this issue.  Bottom line . . . mine NEVER turned out like hers.

And, then there was Ann's sweet tea.  The absolute BEST tea in the world, with as much sugar as tea.  She showed me how to make that, too.  .  . That worked for me.  I've shown my daughter, Krista the same method, but without all the sugar.
  
There were many visits over the years with and without my parents, but the things you could always count on were big smiles and a hearty welcome.  You could always count on Ann's teasing and laughing with Brad and his Dad.  I'll always remember them laughing, and Ann calling out BRADLEY!

Ann delighted in taking care of everyone in her house.  She wanted you to eat more, but took your plate before you were finished, so she could get things cleaned up.  She hardly sat down.  She was so happy you were there.   What a nice feeling that gave me.  Ann always had good advice for us girls about our boyfriends.  And, she usually tried to find something to give you as a memento before you left.  And, when it was time to say Goodbye  she was never around.  Brad told me it was because your leaving made her cry.
  
On one of my last visits with Ann on Skype, she asked, When are you coming down to visit?  We'd sure love to have you.   She always asked every time we talked.
  
A young, Swedish relative visited with Ann and Brad a few years back.  I had written to them that Ann had passed, and his response was, I'm so sorry to hear of Ann's passing.  She was the nicest person I've ever met.   I think that says it all, doesn't it.
  
Brad --  you created a great partnership with Ann all those years ago.  Out of your marriage came your beautiful family.  . .Sue, Jan and Lee along with their families.  The two of you showed us how love and commitment can make for a long,  happy life together.

My journey with nanny began a little over 42 years ago, or as nanny would call it "35 years ago". One of the first stories I heard about nanny was how she immediately stepped in to help my mom give me my first bath...my kicking, crying and changing colors didn't phase her and nanny, the "baby whisperer" had me clean and cooing in no time. And that was that...she was there, right there, from the very beginning. She made holidays and birthdays events and the best chicken n dumplings, pinto beans, corn bread and bread pudding. "Stick to your ribs food" she would say. 
Nanny was my superhero...my do-it-all and then some idol. And while she certainly had the gift of filling bellies, she had even more of a gift of filling hearts. She was our matriarch, always making sure everyone was ok, whether that was a phone call, a visit, or yelling down through the vent on the stairs to check on me and my cousin, Brad. She excluded me from nothing. We tore around town, Brad and I sliding around the backseat of nanny's Toyota, alternating who would stand up and hang on to the back of nanny's seat. We would deliver food to families in need, rearrange the food bank she had in her basement, read mail for a blind friend or simply go visit with an elderly brother and sister who had no other family. However, it was never framed that we were helping them....we were just visiting friends. 
While in school to become a social worker, I frequently joked with her, especially when I was working with a difficult family, that it was all her fault. That was one of my favorite things about nanny. She was so funny...she was spunky and would rarely refrain from "telling it like it is". She showed me that being a woman had no rigid parameters...that doing it all didn't mean striving for perfection and exhausting  yourself in the process. It simply meant doing all you WANT to do, leading from your heart, trusting that the ones who really know you and love you will be right there. Just like she was with me.
Nanny....right now....I don't WANT to go on without you, without your conversation, talks over coffee, family stories, laughing, trying on your wigs, the smell of powder and gardenias and looking at  your jewelry together,  but I do WANT everyone to know that every little piece of me carries a piece of you. And, that I thank you for everything. Except for the "raw head and bloody bones story you used to get Brad and I to bed" I could have done without that :) 
Just know that I will always be that little girl holding onto the back of your seat while you lead the way.-----Allicia

Don and I would like to express our deepest sympathy. Ann was an amazing individual.  Though we did not know her well personally, we saw how much "Nanny" was enjoyed, loved, and respected through Brad and Rachel.  You are all in our hearts and thoughts.

OBITUARY

Ann Lee Coggins Westerdahl

March 22, 1916 – May 2, 2015

Mitchell Funeral Home at Raleigh Memorial Park

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