Ann Blackwell, born January 11, 1953, to Mary Ellen Anderson Griffith and George Mitchell Griffith, Jr., passed away November 8, 2018 at Stella Maris in Timonium, Maryland, where she had lived since 2016. Ann grew up just north of Cockeysville, Maryland, and attended Sparks Elementary School and Hereford High School, graduating in 1971. Throughout her life, she took a great deal of joy and delighted others by her work as an artist, painting landscapes, botanicals, and portraits. Stella Maris celebrated her artistic talent with a one-woman show in 2016. She had a lengthy illness but her last months were especially happy ones. She loved Maryland seafood, the Ravens, and classic rock. At Stella Maris, she shared a large room overlooking Loch Raven Reservoir with her painting easel nearby, and up until the last week or two her daily routine included wheeling herself around the complex, to the terrace, the post office, the cafeteria, and the Good Buy shop. Her shopping habit at the Good Buy shop yielded lots of treasures, mostly gifts for others, especially the little ones in her life. She doted on her granddaughter and grandnieces. Her dear friend Kamiia Warren-Troupe writes, “She taught me so much. She loved unconditionally. She showed me the true beauty of the world around us.”
Ann is survived by her daughter, Mary Blackwell Zorbaugh, Bryan Zorbaugh, and granddaughter Lily Zorbaugh, of Atlanta, Georgia; her brother, George Griffith, and Beth Griffith, of Ellicott City, Maryland, and nieces Emily Griffith and Rachael Griffith; her sister, Ellen Griffith Spears, and Brian Spears, of Atlanta, Georgia, niece Lelia Spears, and Zaida Espada, grandnieces Zoë Spears Espada and Anaïs Spears Espada, of Washington, D.C.; and nephew Ben Spears, also of Atlanta.
A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, November 24, 2018 at 11:00 am at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 1509 Glencoe Road, Glencoe, Maryland 21152. Internment in the Church Cemetery and a reception in the Church Hall will follow the service.
Donations in memory of Ann can be made to: Memorial Fund, Stella Maris, 2300 Dulaney Valley Road, Timonium, Maryland 20193 and/or to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Georgia Chapter, 57 Executive Park S., Suite 380, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
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