Ann Kempson Grau

Ann Kempson Grau, born on October 19, 1931 in Bridgeport, Alabama, died peacefully of natural causes in Arlington, Virginia on February 13, 2023. She was 91 years old. The oldest daughter of Clarice and Jerry Maples, she lived a long and remarkable life. She attended Brenau, a women's college in Gainesville, Georgia, in 1949, but the following year transferred to Eastern New Mexico University to be closer to where her family had moved after her father contracted (and survived) tuberculosis. There she met her first husband, Clinton Norris Kempson, and they eventually settled in Southern California. She later earned her Administrative Services Credential at California State University, Fullerton.

She was an elementary, junior high, and high school teacher, and then a school administrator in the Tustin Unified School District for nearly 20 years. In 1975, she survived the sudden death of her husband of 23 years when she was just 44 years old with a son still in high school. She eventually sold the family home and moved to Newport Beach to be closer to the California coastline, where after some time, she met and married her second husband, Mel Grau, who died in their 29th year together. She then relocated to Northern Virginia to be closer to her children: Mark and his wife Janet Greenberg, Lauri and her husband Ron Brooks, and Judson.

A beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Ann will be remembered for her charm, her almost other-worldly intuition, her kindness to the most vulnerable among us, and her signature wry sense of humor. She considered her spectacular white standard poodle, Coco, her soul mate. She was an avid reader and expressed her sensitivities through her writing and artwork. She is survived by her younger sister, Linda Williams, as well as her three children; two stepdaughters: Pamela Grau Twena and Claudia Grau Sender; eight grandchildren: Spencer and Norris Brooks; Jonathan, Satya (Zurofsky), and Claire (Haskell) Twena; Malka, Stella, and Joseph Sender; and five great-grandchildren. We are grateful to have had the privilege to participate in her life. She provided us a model not so much for a woman but for a human being, influencing how we lead our lives, conduct our relationships, and change our world.

A memorial service will be held on May 27 at El Toro Memorial Park, 25751 Trabuco Road, in Lake Forest at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Museum of Women in the Arts or the Mu Chapter of the Phi Mu Sorority at Brenau University.