Ann D. Ferguson

Ann Dorothea Ferguson was born in Wrentham, MA, on July 18th,1930, to Dorothy E. and Martin J. Ferguson. She lived in Foxboro, MA, for most of her childhood, with her parents and younger brother Neil D. Ferguson. She attended and graduated Foxboro High School in 1948 and went on to study at Wheaton College, IL, where she received her BA in English Literature in 1952. In 1955, she was hired to teach English Literature and Art at Gordon College, a small liberal arts college on the Boston Fenway, which soon moved to Wenham, MA. She completed her PhD at Boston University in 1972 while teaching full time.
Ann spent the next 50 years at the small protestant liberal arts school, teaching English, Irish and Russian Literature, Literary Criticism, and Feminist Theory. Ann started a theatre program at Gordon where she produced the first three-act play in the college's history, Night of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont. She often could be seen sewing multiple costumes for plays, teaching art and drawing classes, and taking students to the American Repertory Theatre or the Boston Symphony Orchestra in her 1948 Club Coupe. She led faculty and students on trips to Europe-a precursor to the Global Education Office at the college. She was always ahead of her time and quietly pushed the limits of what was socially and politically acceptable. She was called into the dean's office many times. While directing Oedipus in the 1960s, she asked three students to grow beards, which at the time was frowned on for its identification with the hippie movement. The dean told her to have them shave but she, stubbornly, ordered them "to grow." She fed countless students to commemorate the end of each semester. Her pupils could be found savoring Russian or Irish delicacies, or feasting on Shakespearean meals, legs dangling from the house's loft, while listening and viewing their peers' final poetry or drama projects. She retired from teaching on May 15, 2010, having shared her love for literature, writing, theater and art with close to 2,000 students in almost 500 classes. She loved reading and writing, and she hosted "Band Practice" at her home for years, a poetry writing group that wrote and critiqued each other's work. She always insisted on being treated just as any other contributor and her students loved her for it.
Ann was fiercely independent in her thinking and in her way of living. She resided in South Hamilton, MA, in the house her beloved brother, Neil Ferguson, built for her on top of a ledge in the woods, overlooking Chebacco lake. She was an avid gardener, knowing all plants by their Latin names, and she built her home garden as a painter paints a masterpiece, always looking at colors and textures to harmoniously complement each other. During retirement she joined the "Shady Ladies," a quilting group in Errol, NH, and preached regularly at the local church. She lived part of the year at her brother's camp in Willsons Mills, ME, near the Androscoggin River where she would watch bald eagles dive in to catch fish. She loved and cared for nature wherever she lived: she fed deer and foxes even when she was not supposed to, moved thousands of limbs and rocks, gardened and made nonnative plants flourish in obstinate soil, and loved her pets, especially "Lambie," her trusted broccoli-and-carrot-eating Huskie.
Ann's homes were always open to anyone who needed shelter and good conversation. She cooked and baked for those in need, hosted meals for friends and colleagues, and offered beds for stranded students and travelers. Out of her generosity of heart, in 2018, Ann created a non-profit, Heathmere Center for Cultural Engagement, which she hoped would continue her legacy of youth-led, creative, civic engagement. In 2022, when she could no longer care for her home in Hamilton, Ann moved to an assisted living facility. She died, peacefully, on March 13, 2025, at Greystone Farm in Salem, NH, surrounded by dear caregivers, old students and dedicated hospice nurses. She is finally reunited with her Maker, her brother Neil, and her parents. Ann is survived by her cousins Kathryn Ann Wolfram, Michelle Morris, Debbie Kravitz, Jason Kravitz, Bill Bauer, Liz Cates, and Megan Couturier. A small, private, graveside funeral will be held on March 24, 2025, at 11:00 am in Wrentham, MA. A memorial in Ann's name will be held in late spring or early summer. In lieu of flowers, please donate to www.Heathmere.org to further Ann's legacy and vision.