Ann Luce

Ann Luce of Golden, CO died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Cold Creek Canyon. She was 91. A painter, pilot, art educator and publisher, Ann was active in the Boulder area for over 45 years after spending the first part of her life in the mid-Atlantic states and New York city. She was an accomplished painter and a graduate of St. Timothy's and Vassar College, also attending the Maryland Institute in Baltimore and the Art Students League in NYC. She married childhood summer neighbor Gordon P. Baird in 1946 and had two boys, Jock and Gordon. After ten years, the marriage ended and Ann moved to Manhattan, where she taught art and later worked at McCall's magazine and several book publishers, where she wrote and illustrated dozens of young adult and educational books. Ann kept a 36-foot sailboat and cruised the New York/New England coast with her sons. Ann was at times fearless, in 1967 sailing her disabled boat into Menemsha, Mass. harbor during a gale, to the astonishment of the local fishermen. Marrying Peter Paul Luce in1967, she soon moved to Boulder and the couple became one of the first residents to build a home at the top of the "hogback" ridge in Coal Creek Canyon, defying high winter winds and trucking in their water. She also took a prominent leadership role in halting a mining operation in the canyon, at one point confronting bulldozers on her horse. Ann took up flying and obtained a full instrument license that she maintained for forty years, sometimes facing harrowing experiences similar to what she'd seen on the water--including two forced landings in the U.S. and further adventures in South America. She also became a fine skier, ran marathons in Boulder, and restarted her formal art education, earning her masters in Art History from CU at age 50 and specializing in Columbian art. Ann turned this interest into a new educational publishing entity, Alarion Press, that put out film strips, videos, and multimedia products. Leveraging her flying skills, Ann regularly hawked her products at national trade shows. She also joined her son Gordon to became a co-founder of Musician, a national magazine later purchased by Billboard. She remained a prolific artist, and became the matriarch of Boulder's Artwork Space studios, subsidizing dozens of creative artists in an intimate, collegial union. After her marriage to Mr. Luce ended, Ann experienced a 30-year relationship with Bill Guinther, a Korean War F-86 pilot and later a popular disabled ski racer at Winter Park and occasional guest conductor for the Boulder Symphony. Ann Luce is survived by her sister, Elise "Butch" Wallace of Sherborn, MA., her two sons, Jonathan and Gordon Baird, Jr. of Gloucester, MA., and their wives Linda Baird and Joe AnnHart. Known to her family as "Grannie Annie," Ann will be missed by her grandchildren Joanna Blabac, Dr. Abby Waldman, Morgan Everson, Jake and Wilder Baird and two great-grandchildren, Beyla and Shiloh Blabac. She is also survived by Butch's children, Brad, Jay and Julie Wallace, all from the Boston area. Donations to Ann's memory can be made by buying and celebrating artwork from worthy artists in your community. A memorial service will be held February 25 at her home at 2 p.m.