Ann R. Wiborg

1928 - 2021

Ann R. Wiborg
March 31, 1928 - November 15, 2021
Tacoma, Washington - Ann Spaulding Rogers Wiborg was born in Seattle, Washington, on March 31, 1928, to Marian Wurzbacher Rogers and Nathaniel Stewart Rogers. Ann graduated from Garfield High School in 1946 and attended the University of Washington for two years, where she joined Alpha Phi sorority. During her teen years, she worked as a candy striper (nurse's aid) at a Seattle hospital, spent idyllic summers at a camp on Flathead Lake in Montana, and rode her Tennessee Walker. A sorority sister introduced her to a recent UW graduate, James H. Wiborg, and her perennial struggles with mathematics gave him an opening to spend time with her as her tutor. The tutoring sessions may not have been successful relative to mathematics, but they led to a marriage that lasted until Jim's death in 2015.
Ann and Jim built a home in Tacoma, into which they moved on their wedding day, June 24, 1948. Ann passed peacefully on November 15, 2021, in that same home where she raised their four children, looking out across the Narrows to the radiant Olympic Mountains. Over the 63 years of their marriage, they shared adventures that took them around the world, to places like Iguassu Falls, Botswana, Christmas Island, Saudi Arabia. In winters, they basked in the sun at their home in Hawaii, which Ann particularly loved. But perhaps of most meaning to them were summers cruising the remote areas of British Columbia on their beloved boat Auriga. For over 50 years, summer also meant time at their South Sound beach home with children, grandchildren, and close friends.
While family and friends were the heart of Ann's life, she also made many contributions to her community, both in funding and in organizational skill. She was a founding member of the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, President of the Junior League of Tacoma, a board member of Allied Arts, Tacoma Art Museum, and the Tacoma Symphony, and a founding donor of the Fund for Women and Girls. She retained her ties to Seattle through membership in the Sunset Club and the Women's University Club and loved playing bridge with her neighborhood friends.
Ann exhibited courage and clarity of thought in any crisis, and she valiantly fought for and supported those she loved. Survivors include her four children--Katherine Davis (Mike), Mimi Green (Larry), Caroline Haydu (Joe), and John Wiborg (Lesa), as well as 17 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, her brother Stewart Rogers (Carol) and numerous nieces and nephews. All of them consider themselves most blessed to have had Ann in their lives.
A private gathering will be held. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ann R. Wiborg Memorial Fund at the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation.