Ann Cogdell

1940 - 2017

COGDELL, Ann Ann Cogdell (nee Conkling) was born in Morrisville, Vermont on October 3, 1940, the first child of Tremaine and Bertha Conkling. She began taking piano lessons before she started school and played a solo concert during her high school years in Montpelier, VT. She attended Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, and upon graduation taught piano in several venues in New England. She moved to Boston in 1963 for a Master's Degree from Boston University in piano performance. During this period she met John R. Cogdell and they were married on July 3, 1965. She moved with him to Austin, Texas in 1966, where he began teaching electrical engineering at UT Austin. In Austin, she gave birth to three children, Amy (1966), Thomas (1968), and Christina (1969). During the period when her children were small, Ann devoted herself to home and caring for her family. Once her children were busy with school, Ann began to teach piano theory and practice, mostly to young people. About 1995, she fulfilled a life-long dream by founding a chamber-music series of concerts in her home on West 31st Street. In this beautiful and comfortable space, she and many others performed for audiences of friends, neighbors, and music lovers generally. Ann's love of classical music was only one aspect of her love of beauty. One reason her home concerts were popular was the beauty of her home. But in response to a clear need, she moved north in 2013 to McGregor near Waco to be close to family. Though she had given up her home, she never stopped dreaming of home - when she died, she was in the midst of remodeling a 100-year-old farmhouse near McGregor. Above all, Ann was a lover of God and her savior Jesus. Her favorite books were books of devotion, and daily readings were part of her morning routine. She was a faithful member of Christ Church, Waco, where she felt nourished in her faith by the Anglican service. She had gone to Europe twice in preparation for observance of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and she was planning to go again in November, 2017 for the climax of that work of reconciliation. It was not to be. On Sunday, July 30, 2017 Ann suffered a stroke in church, shortly after serving as pianist in the morning service. She drew her last breath at dawn the next morning in Hillcrest Hospital, Waco in the loving presence of her husband, children, and other friends and family members. She received the home funeral and burial she had wanted, which took place that evening at sunset on her McGregor farm. A memorial service was held at Christ Church, Waco on Thursday, August 3, 2017 and was attended by family and many from Waco and Austin. At the service a video played a recording of words she had spoken the day before her stroke, which summed up her life perfectly: "For beauty to come forth, love has to be present." Ann is survived by her husband, John, her children, Amy Brydon (McGregor, TX), Thomas Cogdell (Elgin,TX), and Christina Cogdell (Winters CA), two married sisters, Jean and Tom Parsons of Kingsburg, CA and Dori and Wright Doyle of Bastrop, Texas, twelve grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Contributions in her honor for the purpose of landscaping the family cemetery may be sent to Christina Cogdell, 206 Main Street, Winters, CA 95694.