Ann McIntyre

Ann McIntyre

"I'm sorry I have to leave you. I'm just not strong enough," said Ann McIntyre, 47, two days before she died on May 12, 2021, at Portland Adventist Hospital in Portland, Oregon. She lived in South Salem.

Friends and family nearby during her last days would disagree about her self-appraisal of strength. The morning she went for her final ten-day hospital stay, she was up, dressed, and making handmade greeting cards at home. Even though her breathing suffered and she was so tired, she was trying to live a normal life despite advancing breast cancer.

Although making homemade cards for years, she never wanted to send them. But in the past weeks, friends have gotten bundles of them. "I can't take them with me," she said.

Born in Twin Falls, Idaho, on May 16, 1973, Ann spent her first nine years living with her mother in Filer, Idaho. Then she moved to Aurora, Oregon, to live with her father. Ann enjoyed cheerleading before graduating from North Marion High School in 1991.

Upon graduating, Ann joined the Woodburn Independent newspaper. Her next stop was the Albany Democrat-Herald. She took the newspaper experience to her next job as advertising and marketing director at Fisher Implements. Jordan Jewelers in Albany employed her while she attended massage therapy school. She enjoyed a solo-practitioner business from 2007 until the middle of 2020. "It was my joy to help people recover from pain," she said.

Ann was a bit of a Renaissance person. Her interests ranged from gardening to community theater to being "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast at Disney World. "I really got into it," she said and spent a day costumed like the Disney heroine. She has the pictures to prove it.

She loved her three visits to Disney World with her husband. Those, and her wedding, were her favorite memories.

Loving the world of romantic fantasy, she crafted her fairy tale wedding in 2015. No detail escaped her notice and her plan. For example, she designed a spiral seating arrangement that allowed the betrothed to pass in front of every single guest on the couple's way to the alter.

She liked vampire literature, too. "I don't know why," she said. "But it is a thing, you know. It's my escape."

Her love of camping with friends included many adventures. Some were downright dangerous. "She was quite the daredevil," said a friend.

Ann often spoke about her friends in her last days, calling them "the pillars of my life." She stayed busy texting everybody until the end. "I may be out of breath, but I'm not out of words."

Surviving Ann McIntyre is her husband of six years, Aaron McIntyre of South Salem, the man she called "the love of my life." Also surviving are two step-sons, Nathan and Logan McIntyre, five siblings, "my numerous nieces and nephews," and her reclusive cat, Johnny.

Ann chose cremation. A public memorial service will not take place because of Covid-19 concerns.

Please make expressions of sympathy to the Endometriosis Foundation of America (www.endofound.org).