Anna M. Cingrani

1914 - 2010

Anna M. (Anne) Cingrani, age 96, died Oct. 23, 2010 at Copper Ridge Care Center in Redding following a short illness.

Born in St. Louis, Mo., on April 14, 1914, she spent most of her childhood years growing up in Chicago, Ill. After graduating from high school, she moved to southern California with her family, where she worked in various administrative and clerical positions. Marrying in 1944, she and her husband, Frank, settled in Oxnard where they lovingly raised their two children. As their children reached high school age, Anne returned to work, starting part-time at the CBC Federal Credit Union in Port Hueneme where she eventually advanced to office manager before joining her husband in retirement and moving to Camarillo. Anne remained quite active in retirement.

With an inquisitive mind and adventurous spirit, she accompanied her husband on many travels to the far corners of the world and to elder hostels throughout the United States. Always creative, she took up painting in her 60s and became an accomplished and prodigious artist. Her landscape paintings adorn many a wall in the homes of family and friends.

Anne also put her creative talents to work doing volunteer arts and crafts work for St. Johns Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo where, among other things, she handcrafted hundreds of Hug me where it hurts pillows given to hospital surgery patients.

Always devoted to her large extended family, Anne was preceded in death by her parents, William and Effie Hatchman; sisters, Harriet Hatchman, Marcella Hatchman and Lee Faulmann; brothers, William Hatchman and Robert Hatchman; and her loving and devoted husband of 64 years, Frank Cingrani. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Gustafson; son, Don Cingrani; grandson, Andrew Gustafson, all of Redding; grandson, Erik Gustafson of Chico; granddaughter, Dr. Megan Madden of Madison, Wis.; and great-grandchildren, Kindall Gustafson, Rylan Gustafson and Ashley Gustafson.

Beneath Annes humble and unassuming demeanor was an intelligence and strength of character that solved many a dilemma and made her the rock of her family. She had an uncanny ability to see through most any issue that confronted her and come up with the most practical and accepted solution. Often the last to speak, Anne was usually the one everyone listened to. She was definitely someone you wanted on your side of an argument. Blessed with a wonderful sense of humor she never missed a chance to lovingly tease or play a practical joke on friends and family alike. Even as the years began to rob her of her memory, Anne never lost her wry wit and the ability to make those around her laugh. She enriched us all by her presence and clearly gave more to life than she ever took from it. A better legacy is hard to imagine.

In honor of Annes wishes, there will be no funeral services. Her family asks simply that she be celebrated by the remembrances of those whose lives she touched.