Anna Gunn

1954 - 2014

Anna Gunn, age 59, formerly of Ventura, passed away on Tuesday, May 27, 2014.

Anna was born June 24, 1954, to Fred and Tanny Gunn. She was the first child; trailblazing the way for her younger siblings, John and Carol. She attended Mound Elementary School, Loma Vista Elementary School, Anacapa Junior High School and Ventura High School. Outgoing, she was always on-the-go and loved being with her friends. Anna got the "travel bug" in junior high school, when travelling to Mexico with the YMCA over winter break. In high school, she lived as an exchange student with an Austrian chocolatier and his family for a summer. Since that time, her passport was always in date, poised and ready, so she could travel at a moment's notice. As a young girl of five years of age, her family began the tradition of going to the Lair of the Bear (University of California) family camp annually. Then during her summers in college, she was a Camp Gold staffer for multiple years. After she had her family, she again returned to the Lair. She loved the Lair and all of its traditions. (Go Bears!)

Anna began her undergraduate studies at UCSB, and then finished at UCLA, with a B.A. in Political Science. One of her favorite times in college was attending World Campus Afloat. She travelled through Africa, India, and then Southeast Asia. While on-board, she was selected to be part of one of the first American groups to enter China. After she completed that trip of a lifetime, she continued both her passion for international travel and business and obtained a M. S., in International Business, from Saint Mary's College of California. Her first professional position was with Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays. She then answered an ad about working abroad, and landed an expatriate position with Flexi-Van, stationed in Singapore for nearly two years. In her free time, she again travelled throughout Southeast Asia. She returned with Flexi-Van to a position in San Francisco. Later, she worked for nine years for Wells Fargo Bank, with her favorite position in corporate training. In 1992, she married and just two years later she gave birth to the joy of her life, Kevin, in 1994. Despite being a single mother the last 10 years, she raised Kevin to be the fine young man that he is. Anna was an exceptionally attentive and fiercely protective mother. She considered that successfully raising Kevin to be her greatest accomplishment.

In 1997, Anna was diagnosed with late stage breast cancer. For treatment, she underwent an autologous transplant, chemo and radiation. She did exceptionally well after a yearlong fight in fact, she did so well, everyone thought she had beaten it completely. She returned to work when Kevin was in elementary school. She loved her position at Springcreek Advisors, a financial consulting group, and counted her colleagues and clients there as a second family. She joined Collins and Company in late 2011, and immediately felt as if she was a key contributor to the small firm. In summer of 2012, she first learned her bone marrow was failing, likely due to her earlier chemo treatment for breast cancer. After investigating her alternatives, she elected to have an allogeneic bone marrow transplant at Stanford. Her best match was a young man, who was allergic to avocadoes which meant she too would become allergic to avocadoes after the transplant! In January 2013, she took a leave of absence from Collins and Company, and began the transplant process with Stanford. She was transplanted in February, and recovered reasonably well. Unfortunately, beginning in summer 2013, she began having additional concerning symptoms. After her health improved somewhat in December 2013, she returned back to work for Collins and Company, the firm that had been so generous to her and her son. Sadly, this spring, her health began to decline, and was re-admitted to Stanford in early May. Her doctors again thought she was finally on the road to recovery and were planning her discharge when she passed away somewhat unexpectedly.

Anna is survived by her son, Kevin Mauer. She is also survived by her sister, Carol Gunn, of Beaverton, Oregon and her niece, Charlotte, of Washington.