Ann Winsor Obituary

Ann Roberts Winsor Resident of NY The Reverend Ann Roberts Winsor, PhD, died at her home in West Lebanon NY on October 3, 2012 of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which had been diagnosed in the fall of 2008. She was 69 years old. She is survived by her husband Robert, her children David, Dan, Mary, Sarah, and Seth Winsor, her mother Marie Roberts, her brothers Ronald and David Roberts, her niece Susannah Roberts, and eight grandchildren. Dr. Winsor was born in Massachusetts and lived in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions until she moved with her family to the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-50s. She graduated from Smith College, served in the Peace Corps in Africa, received a Master of Divinity from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, and a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union, also in Berkeley. In 1984 she was ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. She was interim rector and dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in San Jose from October 1998 to January 2000. Her last office was in the grants program at Trinity Wall Street in NYC. A requiem for her will be scheduled at Trinity Wall Street sometime in November or December.

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Published by San Jose Mercury News/San Mateo County Times on Oct. 17, 2012.

Memories and Condolences
for Ann Winsor

10 Entries

Carolyn Grassi

October 11, 2022

Remembering dear Ann over the years with gratitude and prayers. She passed over too young. Her family and friends miss her. An inspiring woman!

Carolyn Grassi

October 12, 2013

dear family and friens of Ann Winsor, She has been on my mind lately and in my prayers.
Ann will always be an inspiration and I feel so grateful for having come to know her. May her spirit live on in us all.
blessing and love,
Caroyn Grassi (Eddie & Peter Grassi and for the late Joseph A. Grassi

Carolyn Grassi

January 13, 2013

It was at Santa Clara University that I and my late husband Joseph Grassi met Ann. Joe was a professor in the Religious Studies department and Ann came to know him at gatherings. She also asked Joe to teach her Greek, which he did and she was a fine student. (I think this was in preparation for her application for graduate studies.) My first sight of Ann was when Joe, I and our young sons, Eddie & Peter, were attending an SCU annual outdoor faire. If I remember correctly, Ann had David and Dan alongside and Seth in a back carrier. She seemed so strong and caring. Years later, our son Eddie attended Hoover Middle School (San Jose) where he became friends with Dan. They both went on to Bellarmine High School (Bob's alma mater too). At this time, Dan hung out a lot at our San Jose home in the Rosegarden area, not far from his home. Eddie also enjoyed coming to Dan's home. Our son Peter also became a close pal of Dan's & the other Bellarmine guys. I'd meet Ann occasionally walking around the Rose garden or at the SCU swimming pool. Joe and I felt it must have been hard to move from the Catholic church to the Episcopal, but Ann did this because she felt so deeply called to be a priest. We believed she was a pioneer woman in trail-blazing for other women, full equality in whatever vocation or profession. We followed her ministry and celebrated her gifts whenever we met. What a joy it was to attend the weddings of her son Dan, then Mary's wedding-- with Ann as the celebrant. Amazing grace! yes, she was an amazingly gracefilled woman. When my husband Joe died in Dec. 2010, Ann wrote me a tender email of condolences.
I think she was an extraordinary woman whose courage, intelligence, compassion and honesty touched all who knew her. My sons Eddie and Peter join me in offering our heart-felt condolences to all of Ann's dear family. Gratefully, Carolyn Grassi

Sandra Fucigna

December 17, 2012

Ann's wit and formidable intellect were still very much in evidence when I visited her shortly before she died. I feel very fortunate to have known her.

David Roberts

December 4, 2012

I remember the day in 1965 when a reporter from the Contra Costa Times came to our home to interview Ann about her imminent journey to Africa with the Peace Corps. It all seemed so impossibly remote and adventurous, and having the reporter visit was so exciting. Many months later this man Bob Winsor came to our home to pick up a few things to bring Ann, as he was going to visit her (?!). This was also exciting, my sister has a man in her life! One can imagine the uncomfortable scrutiny Bob must have felt as he dined for the first time with the Roberts family. Subsequently, Ann left her appointment in Africa a year early (teaching typing was not so fulfilling) so that she could return home and marry Bob.

Over the years in San Jose Ann somehow raised a houseful of kids. Before Julie and I married, I asked Ann if Julie and I could come to visit for several days. Ann declined my request, citing the bad example for the kids having an unwed couple staying in the spare bedroom (this in 1973 when some of her kids weren't even born yet). Well, times and mores have changed – years later Ann denied ever offering such a silly objection to our visit, (and I think her kids as adults think the story is a hilarious anachronism). Ann regularly threw family dinner parties, typically overextending herself. Once when we arrived at the appointed time she was finishing up the painting of a room in the house. One of Ann's passions was the opera, she and Bob for years had season tickets for the San Francisco Opera. Julie and I babysat every week during opera season.

With me anyway, Ann tended to keep her spirituality to herself. In my case, she didn't care to waste her time sharing her faith with non-believers. Only occasionally did we speak of spiritual matters, in general terms, and this mostly in recent years. Interested in dreams, she especially wanted to know about an intense dream I had while camping at an ancient indian burial ground in the desert southwest.

After she moved to New York, the opera still a passion, I didn't see her much except when she visited our mother in Walnut Creek. In some ways, she seemed more interested in California after moving away, even taking up backpacking in the Sierra Nevada for the first time when she was in her mid-sixties. Tragically, her illness cut short this new endeavor after only two summers.

In 2010, I visited Ann and Bob in East Chatham. Her illness was well advanced by this time and it was quite difficult and tiring for her to get around but the three of us managed to take a couple of driving trips, two nights at Cape Cod and a day trip to North Adams where we visited a modern art museum. As I wheeled her from room to room, we were bemused, puzzled and touched with the installations. In one very large room, which was at least one hundred feet long, we passed under dozens of wires strung from the ceiling running the length of the room, illuminated by carefully placed lighting. These strands of light were simply magical. When I think of Ann now, I imagine her enveloped in this glorious light.

Thank you for all you have given, my beloved sister, in life and now in death. With love, your brother David.

December 4, 2012

It is lovely and so faithful to the spiritual friendship Ann and I shared in Seminary at CDSP, to think of her resting in Iona. Our love for Jesus, in those days, was quite complimentary: expressed by her in a burning desire to live her life at the center of His Passion. I sensed then, and hold even now, that my quiet way in the life of prayer was calming and irenic and, at certain times, restorative for her. We sought each other out to be nurtured in the balance and to encourage one another towards that balance. I will always treasure and rejoice that we shared a longing that "our lives become a prayer that seeks only Jesus, in all circumstances." Be at Peace, dear friend and sister in Christ. Zoila Schoenbrun+

Ruth

December 3, 2012

I miss you, Ann-- I was in awe of your faith, and still am--deep, tough, intelligent. I am thankful to have known you, and can hardly bear to think of your absence in this world.

Susan MacDonnell

December 3, 2012

Ann-- You and I re-met as cousins in 2008, at Thanksgiving in Chappaqua NY, after some 40+ years! As happy as I was that day to have re-connected with you, I am sadder than that now at how short a time I had to get to know you again. My day and a half with you and Bob in Chatham the following year were so special and I wish there had been ways that I could have been more available to you and your family since that visit.
Rest in peace, long-lost cousin.

November 10, 2012

Rest in peace Ann. (Charlene from interim health care)

Maryq Winsor-Bourda

October 31, 2012

I miss you mom!

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