Daily Sitka Sentinel

Ann DeLill-Johnson

Ann DeLill-Johnson

Ann DeLill-Johnson, a resident since 2001, died peacefully on Dec. 26, 2016, at Sitka Community Hospital. She was 77. 

She was born April 1, 1939, in Ithaca, N.Y., the daughter of Earl and Helen (Booth) DeLill. 

She graduated from Cornell University in 1961 where she earned a degree in microbiology from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and was active in the Sage Chapel Choir. She enjoyed her years studying at Cornell while working summers in the Adirondack Mountains, feeling that the “faculty, lectures, concerts, forums, sports, music and friends she encountered there had prepared her for experiencing the wide diversity that would take place in her future.”

After graduation she moved to Madison, Wis., where she started a career in science working as a microbiologist for the University of Wisconsin’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Later she relocated to Mount Desert Island in Maine where she worked as a professional assistant in research at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor. Her 20 years there spanned work in areas of neuromuscular diseases, infectious diseases, embryo freezing and genetic quality control. 

Disillusioned with her career as a woman in science, she left the Jackson Lab in the mid 1980s to pursue a career in business banking, eventually becoming a certified trust auditor for the Bar Harbor Banking and Trust Co. Unfortunately, Ann developed lupus and found she could no longer work full time. Health problems forced her to leave this new career and in 2001 she relocated to Sitka, to enjoy her grandchildren. 

She re-joined the work force part-time in 2005, establishing Channel Rock Bookkeeping, a small freelance business.  She also went to work part-time at what is now Alaska Pacific Waste.

Despite being in her retirement years and having ever-decreasing mobility as the lupus progressed, Ann found work and its personal interactions to be a motivation that kept her moving.  She dearly loved the “guys” that she worked with, as they took every care to make sure she made it to work every day.  She often said this was the job that had made her the happiest.

She was also a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, a former member of Ocean Wave Quilters and many other various organizations.

In a personal reflection to her Cornell classmates some time back, Ann wrote “the section above for honors and awards is blank – but that does not mean that I have not experienced many in my life. They are not on plaques and paper, but are memories of a wonderful life being highly regarded by many people – some with famous names, some not. Golfing, river rafting (Wisconsin), playing guitar and singing in Bar Harbor coffee houses, hiking, canoeing and fly fishing (Maine). What an honor to be a mother and watch the children grow and discover their life path to travel .... I had nine wonderful years owning ‘Duck Puddle Farm’ on four acres of mixed woods, caring for pond, lawn, gardens and house. Then my life took me from Mount Desert Island in the Atlantic Ocean in Maine to Baranof Island in the Pacific Ocean in Alaska. I can no longer be active as in the past – but my life is filled with the wonders of nature. I see whales, sea lions, sea otters, bears, mountain goats, deer, swans, geese, eagles, ravens, gulls in a setting of mountains and glaciers. Now I am rewarded to be a grandmother and be able to listen as my older granddaughter shares the pull between her desire to study philosophy and her passion to be a diesel mechanic.  There have been many painful moments along the way but it has not prevented my life from being an awesome trip ...”

Ann is survived by a brother, James DeLill of Newhall, Calif.; a son, Richard E. MacPike of Bennington, Vt.; a daughter, Patricia A. MacPike and son-in-law Karl Wolfe of Sitka; two grandchildren, Hannah and Jasmine; niece Vicci (James) Zimmerman; and great-nieces Andie Sieb, Jordyn, Julia, and Joelle Zimmerman.

A memorial service will be held 4 p.m. Jan. 9 at Sitka Lutheran Church. In lieu of flowers, expressions of remembrance can be made to SAIL Community Playground Project, 514 Lake St. Ste C, Sitka, AK  99835 or Shriners Hospitals for Children P.O. Box 1510, Ranson, WV  25438-4510.