Annabel Lee Mohr

Annabel Lee (McArthur) Mohr ascended to Heaven on the wings of her guardian angel on September 9, 2021. She was born in Shorewood, Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 29, 1930 to Annabel Mae (Douglas) McArthur of Milwaukee and Robert Edgar McArthur of Gary, Indiana.

Annabel was married on June 25, 1955 to George Carl Mohr of Cresco, Iowa. George and Annabel met on the luxury liner Il de France in 1951 and were immediately smitten with each other. Annabel and her mother were sailing to Europe to celebrate her 21st birthday at the top of the Jungfrau in Germany and George, a Rhodes Scholar, was sailing to England to attend Hertford College at Oxford University. George courted Annabel during her European travels. When she returned to Europe in 1953 for a five-month tour George placed an engagement ring on Annabel’s finger while passing beneath the Bridge of Sighs via gondola in Venice, Italy. Once George completed his education at Oxford University, they married at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Annabel was a witness to Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation in London. She and her mother were friends of the London importer who provided the sparkling bits for the queen’s gown. They were able to purchase drop pearls, seed pearls and diamantes from the same lot that had been sewn onto Queen Elizabeth’s coronation gown. Mrs. McArthur lovingly stitched the pearls and diamantes onto Annabel’s wedding gown and she too looked like a princess as she walked down the church aisle.

Annabel was the great-granddaughter of James Douglas, a pioneer architect of Milwaukee during the 1800s and the granddaughter of Robert Bruce Douglas, a prominent Milwaukee Real Estate broker during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Her mother was also a prominent writer and author of They Signed for Us about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Annabel was born profoundly hearing impaired and learned to read lips when she was a small child. She never shied away from the many activities and opportunities in her life. These included Girl Scouts, horseback riding and jumping, Cotillion dances, being a member of the Jobs Daughters, singing in the Shorewood High School Choir and being on the Flag team, earning skeet shooting and bowling trophies, and attending the University of Wisconsin.

When Annabel became the wife of a commissioned Air Force physician, she was the epitome of what an officer’s wife was expected to be for 39 years. During those years she hosted innumerable coffee and tea gatherings, luncheons for the other wives, and formal dinners and parties with grace and aplomb. However, her greatest joy in life was being a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

When Annabel was just 50 years old, she was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative retinal disease, which eventually rendered her completely blind in her early 70s. This prevented her from reading lips and Annabel found it difficult to communicate with others. Still, she never complained and lived the rest of her life with grace and gratitude for the “wonderful life” she had been blessed to live.

Annabel is survived by her daughter Diana Lee Mohr of San Antonio, Texas; her son Robert Carl Mohr and Brenda J. (Clabbers) Mohr of Aledo, Texas; grandson James Alexander Mohr and Leann M. (Gunnels) Mohr of New Braunfels, Texas and great-granddaughter Juliette Annabel Mohr.

A committal ceremony will be held at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery on Monday, October 11, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. We respectfully request that, in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to the Foundation Fighting Blindness.