Ann de Klerk

Ann de Klerk
Ann Margaret de Klerk passed away peacefully in Verona, PA on November 8, 2024 at the age of 91 A caring mother, grandmother, sister, wife, aunt, and friend, she will be greatly missed. She was a brave soul moving from her home in England to the United States at the age of 22 with her husband John (deceased 1983). She started a family in the US and lived in the States for the rest of her life, though England always had a special place in her heart. One of her favorite lines from a poem says it well: "If I should die, think only this of me that there's some corner of a foreign field that is forever England " (Rupert Brooke, "The Soldier," 1914). She had a lifelong love of languages, literature, education, art, and the garden, which was evident in her choice of career and activities. Ann graduated from the University of London with a degree in languages, specializing in French and German. A decade later, she returned to graduate school earning a Masters in Library Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Juggling career and family, Ann was dedicated to academic libraries, first working for Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Over the span of 10+ years she rose to be the head librarian of the Engineering and Science Library at CMU. In 1978, Ann accepted the position of University Librarian (director) at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. Among her many accomplishments she managed a major building addition and renovation of Bertrand Library and oversaw the advent of Information Technology in the academic library. However, loving books, she was known to say "you can't take a computer to bed with you." (Apple must have heard her and took on the challenge in developing the iPad.) Ann retired from Bucknell in 1994 and afterward played an active role in the Press of Appletree Alley, founded by her partner Barnard Taylor. The aims of the press were "to place into print fine writings, poetry, prose, and letters not commonly available." The end products beautifully combined words with fine paper, handset type, illustrations, marbled paper, and hand binding created in concert with a team of artisans. These special edition books are prized by rare book collectors. Ann enjoyed artistic and literary endeavors and spending time with her grandchildren. She loved the garden – cultivating it in the "British style" of wild. Her children and grandchildren enjoyed the stories of her many efforts to outwit the squirrels who regularly broke into the birdfeeder and the deer who leapt over her tall fences and feasted on her shrubbery. She shared her many and varied interests with her children and grandchildren, sending plants or works of art for special occasions, self-publishing the poems of her grandson, teaching her daughter and favorite son-in-law how to prune their crepe myrtle tree and plant attractive flower boxes at their new home. Ann is survived by her children, Susan Gaitan (Raymond) and Peter de Klerk (Lynne Conner), her grandchildren Miles (Elnora) and Roy de Klerk, and her brother George and sister Judith. A memorial service to celebrate the life of Ann de Klerk will be held at a later date, details to be announced. Arrangements entrusted to English Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Inc., 378 Maryland Ave., Oakmont, PA 15139.
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