Ann Feeley Kieffer

Wilmot, NH - Ann Feeley Kieffer-gifted artist, gatherer of community, champion athlete, avid outdoorperson, joyful crooner, talented gardener, fine cook, progressive activist, subtle humorist, grateful spirit, devoted friend, and beloved matriarch of a large clan-made her passage from this life, with family by her side, on October 24, 2023 in Louisville, CO.

Ann-who went by many affectionate nicknames including Annie, Fee, and Oui-was born in Boston on August 16, 1936, to John Murray Feeley and Anna (Bowles) Feeley. Ann spent her formative years in the Boston suburbs with her siblings Jean Feeley, Edward Feeley, John (Jocko) Feeley and attended Milton Academy.

Ann shared her vibrant and varied interests with the world in thoughtful and subtle ways. Her gift for language shone through in the many heartfelt cards, poems and tributes she shared with family and friends. She read voraciously, always eager to share the pleasures and epiphanies she found in literature, essays, and spiritual writings, and formed close bonds in her book and writing groups. Her sweet, mezzo-soprano voice rang out beautifully and often, whether in her den at home singing along to a jazz standard (she knew them all), at her beloved St. Andrew's Episcopal Church or in the choir at her last residence at Balfour. One of Ann's most cherished memories of college was singing in the Shwiffs, an a cappella group at Connecticut College. Her love of music extended to instruments as well, from drum circles to solo piano.

A lifelong sports fan, Ann competed fiercely and successfully in golf and tennis in her youth. She carried the same intensity into spectating, whether cheering from the sidelines of her children or grandchildrens' games or engrossed in watching Monday night football or Wimbledon from the couch. She also thrived in the outdoors, fostering a lovely landscape and garden, making sweeping turns on snowy slopes, or leading the charge on a summer hike, with her inimitably determined gait on full display.

Perhaps Ann expressed herself most fully, personally and professionally, in her painting and sculpture. She earned a bachelor degree in fine art in 1958 from Connecticut College. Beginning in 1979, alongside her husband, William Tolbert Kieffer Jr. (also known as Will or Willie), Ann devoted herself to becoming a full-time artist and art educator. Together, they shared studios during the 1980's and 1990's at the Boston Center for the Arts and in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, Italy where they enjoyed working privileges at Fonderia' Mariani for bronze and Studio Nicoli for their marble work, and at their home in Wilmot, NH.

Ann received widespread recognition for her art, having a number of pieces selected in juried shows, being named a Hoyt Fellow at Ezra Stiles College at Yale University in 1993 and receiving a merit award in sculpture at the Sharon Arts Center in 1996. Together, Ann and Will collaborated on several large figurative public art sculpture commissions, including The Landing of Cadillac a ten foot bronze statue of Detroit's founder, located in the Philip Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit and commissioned for the city's tricentennial, and Cain and Abel, a bronze commemorating the 140th anniversary of the Battle of Cold Harbor located in Richmond, VA.

In addition to working as an artist and arts educator, Ann served as a consultant to the Knox Foundation and the Managing Director of Sidewalk, Inc, a community arts organization, during the 1970s while raising her family in Hartford and West Hartford Connecticut. She also earned a Master's Degree in Social Work from St. Joseph's College in 1982.

Ann cared deeply about her community. She served for many years on the Board of the Wilmot Public Library. She served in a Church and leadership roles at St. Andrew's Church and orchestrated the design and community efforts to build a labyrinth on its grounds as a place of solace and meditation. She put her social work degree to work by leading local grief support circles for women under the auspices of the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA). Throughout their time together, Ann and Will were devoted to fundraising for the Leukemia Society of America (now The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), including completing the Dublin marathon together as part of the Team in Training fundraising campaign in 1996. In the late nineteen-seventies, Anne, Will and The Rev. Marc Hall together founded the Stowe Mountain Chapel, an interfaith chapel on Mount Mansfield.

Ann is survived by a large and loving family: her children Taintor Child, Jonathan Davis (Susan Miller), Oliver Davis (Michelle Frye); Will's children Sarah Kieffer, Peter Kieffer (Blythe), Tony Kieffer (Susan Conley); grandchildren Erin Child (Matt Zapp), Ian Child, William Kieffer IV (Lara), Rachel Kieffer, Paul Kieffer, Ellington Davis, Murray Davis, Milo Gumucio-Davis, Calder Davis, Thorne Kieffer, Aidan Kieffer; great-grandchildren Scottie, Elle and William Kieffer V; nieces Suzanne Feeley, Maureen Ridings (Bill), Laura Mullis (Ben), Lyn Feeley Matzeit; and nephews Edward J. Feeley III (Jeane), John Feeley (Beth). This November, the family will cherish memories of sharing Thanksgiving holidays together in Wilmot, where Ann and Will's house was warm and full and primed for an epic game of touch football.

Ann was predeceased by her siblings Edward Feeley, John Feeley (Jane), and Jean Feeley; her first husband Ellsworth Davis; her second husband William T. Kieffer; Will's son Bill Kieffer; and Will's daughter Polly Kieffer. Ann will be interred beside Will and Bill at the Bunker Hill Cemetery in Wilmot NH.

A memorial service followed by a light reception will be held on August 10th, 1:00pm at Saint Andrews Episcopal Church, 52 Gould RD. New London, NH. 03257.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:

The Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/

Macular Degeneration Association: https://macularhope.org/

Ann Feeley Kieffer