Anna Tardin Carton

Anna Tardin was born in Yugoslavia on August 18, 1935. Her Dad was German and Mom Hungarian. After WWII broke out a German officer rode up to the door of their house and told her father that he was to report for duty, and if he didn't, they would come back and shoot him. After much discussion with her mother, he decided to report. He came home a few times but is listed as MIA in the area of Yugoslavia now known as Bosnia. In the meantime, her Mother was taken to a Russian concentration camp. Ann at nine years old was left to fend for herself, begging for food, after her Grandfather's death and her two brothers took off for Germany. After a year on her own, she eventually found her Mother, who was rented out by the Russians to work in farmer's fields during the day. She was then also placed in the concentration camp with her Mother for eighteen months. The Russians lined up the men in the camp and were taking every tenth man for a work detail. The ones chosen for the walk detail were tied together and led into the woods never to be seen again. Those with mental issues were taken on a picnic but didn't come back.

Anna was playing under a bunk and found some money. Her mother used it to pay the underground that helped them escape with a group of 60. Travel was very dangerous for the group. They hid out in corn fields during the day, eating raw corn and water from cattle troughs in order to survive. They traveled at night and crossed over the border into Hungary. Tito demanded them back. Hungary gave them the option of going back or going to Austria. There, somehow, they were united with her two brothers. Eighteen months later they were approved to come to the U.S. as refugees aboard the troop carrier USS Hanselman. How did Anna and John meet? He requested a family to come and work for him through the Catholic Relief Services. Another family was to come and work for him, but their children developed the measles, so Anna's family was selected. After a brief courtship, mostly hiding and kissing behind a stack of milk crates, they were married.

She applied for U.S. citizenship in Birmingham and was given three months to learn US history, and the Constitution. Mary was in the first grade at St. Joseph School in Sheffield. Sister Mary Thomas told her that it would be a good learning event. The next morning at the Federal Courthouse, she took her citizenship test along with 163 individuals and their families. Each prospective citizen went up to the Judge and were asked who the President and Vice President were, and print a line that said, "Yes I would like to become an American citizen" and sign it. All those months of studying the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and history of the USA, and that was all they were asked. One of the court clerks asked Ann, "how do you feel now that you are a citizen?" She told him that she didn't feel any different than she did this morning when she woke up. He patted her and said, "that's okay, you will one day."

Raising five children, she was an excellent seamstress and made most of their clothes until they were out of high school. Her Father was a tailor and she inherited his talent. She made three of her daughter's wedding dresses.

She left this life on March 6, 2026. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Louis Carton. She is survived by children Mary Carton, Joseph Carton, Rose Carton Mulqueeny (Dennis), Elizabeth Carton Thompson (Lonnie), and Linda Carton Simmons (Steve). Grandchildren Amanda Thompson Shirah (Shaun), Tony Thompson, David Mulqueeny (Cecy), April Mulqueeny, and Laura Simmons.

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church in Tuscumbia, Alabama followed by a funeral Mass. Burial will be at Holy Cross Cemetery.