Ann G. VanDerwerker

Ann G. VanDerwerker, 92, passed away on Saturday, March 14, 2026. She was born on July 13, 1933, in her Schuylerville family home, to Martha (Regan) and J. Leighton Cromie. Ann was educated in the Schuylerville schools and spent her teenage years in the environment of her dad's pharmacy, where she turned out ice cream sodas at the popular soda fountain.

Ann graduated from Schuylerville High School in 1950 and went on to the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, majoring in French, because her dad had so much fun with his version of the language with the kids at the soda fountain. The summer of her junior year, she spent at the University of Montreal. In 1957, she studied abroad in Paris for a summer program, soaking up all that she could to share with the French classes when she resumed teaching later that fall. In 1961 she completed her M.A. at College of Saint Rose.

Ann's first job teaching French and Latin was in Middleburgh NY, where Bill VanDerwerker, a former Schuylerville neighbor, was on the faculty. Years later they would become husband and wife. From there Ann taught French in Glens Falls High School until she and Bill married on her birthday in 1963 and they settled in Ballston Spa where Bill was teaching. Her beloved Bill predeceased her in 1988.

Life's focus changed with children, and she left the classroom for a homemaker role until Amy and Bill were in high school, when she returned to teaching as a substitute at Ballston Spa High School.

Blessed with two children, she is survived by her daughter Amy Gilmore and her son Bill VanDerwerker and his wife Stacy, her adored grandchildren Mattingly, Willie, and Ben, brother Richard Cromie and his wife Suzanne, nephews James Cromie, Paul Cromie, and Don VanDerwerker, numerous cousins, and a community of friends. Ann was predeceased by her son in law Mark Gilmore.

Music was her middle name, as it were. She played piano by ear at three years old and continued with lessons through high school. At college, she played to accompany any musical performance, and upon request most of her life. Filling the shoes of the organist at St. Mary's Church in Ballston Spa, for a two week period, she continued as church organist and choir director for 45 years. She also played for mass at the County Infirmary for nearly 30 years. Joining the Academy for Lifelong Learning (A.L.L.) through the Empire State College in Saratoga Springs in 1995, she found herself in a classroom where she designed and presented a class on "The American Broadway Musical" from 1998-2010. Ann was also a member of the Mechanicville Dorothy Welch Choral Society and the Mohawk Valley Chorus based in Amsterdam.

In 2009, Ann was remarried to Gerry (Gerard) Cantwell, a fellow musician, jazz lover and A.L.L. student, and again widowed in 2012. In the last few years of her long, healthy life, Ann was lovingly cared for by the angels of Home Instead and then her last year at the Home of the Good Shepherd in Malta, with gratitude to Community Hospice in her final days.

Relatives and friends are invited to calling hours on Thursday, March 26, from 5pm to 7pm at Armer Funeral Home, Inc., 39 East High Street, Ballston Spa. A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated 9:30am Friday, March 27 at St, Mary's Church, Milton Avenue, Ballston Spa. Burial will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery, Schuylerville. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in memory of Ann may be made to her favorite charity St Jude Children's Research Hospital or St. Mary's Church in Ballston Spa.