Jane Ellen’s News: May 2009

Dear family, friends, and colleagues,

I realise there has been a rather long silence from me, which I hope to rectify in the coming months. I pray this writing finds all of you well and happy, and that the year has treated you kindly.

Many of you know that I have spent the last four years as the sole carer for my mother, Ann. It is with deep regret that I must tell you that she passed away ten weeks ago, on March 18th, 2009. What some of you may not know, is that Ann was also known to the world as the poet Ann Cragg, author of the volume Ghosts and Echoes, whose work also appeared in various compilations, books, magazines, and websites. Many of you subscribed to my newsletter only to keep up with bits of news about her work and updates to her pages which have been featured on my website over the years.

I will be sending another newsletter early in June, which will attempt to catch you up on what has been happening with me, where I am now living, and what my plans are for the future. However, I feel it is appropriate to dedicate the remainder of this newsletter to my mother, to whom I owe not only my lifelong love of music and literature, but who was the driving force in the early days of my career as a musician and composer and who remained until the end not only my biggest supporter, but a beloved companion and friend. Her death has left a gap in my life which can never be filled.

What follows is a short obituary that was written for use by newspapers in and around her home town in Missouri. Certain personal details have been omitted.

Follow your heart,
Jane

In Memory of Ann Cragg
Beloved sister, mother, poet, and friend

Ann Cragg died Wednesday, March 18, 2009, in Albuquerque, NM. Born in Wayland, Missouri, USA, she was the fifth of eight children and grew up on the family farm near St Patrick. She wrote her first poem at the age of 14 and would continue writing all her life. When she was 16 she graduated from the Catholic High School in St Patrick, at which time she received the offer of a full scholarship from a private college, where she hoped to study journalism and art. Because she knew her family could not help her raise the money required to pay for her books, supplies and basic living expenses, however, she turned down the scholarship and went to work in the private sector.

During World War II she served at the ordnance plant in Des Moines, Iowa, measuring azide powder for bomb detonator caps. After the war she worked for a time at Graham Hospital in Keokuk, Iowa, and then enlisted in the US Army in 1950 at the outbreak of the Korean war. She served first in the Cadet Hospital at the US Military Academy, West Point, New York, and then as a surgical nurse on the small island of Okinawa, a base in full support of US troops in Korea. She remained in the Army several years after the war and travelled extensively, including a tour of duty in Germany. Later she spent several years in France during which she wrote numerous newspaper articles, and after spending time in Colorado and Virginia, eventually settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

She grew more serious about her writing in the 1990s, and adopted the pen name Ann Cragg. In 1999 a book of 200 of her poems was published under the title Ghost and Echoes, which garnered world-wide attention. She received numerous requests to have her poetry included in church worship services, in various anthologies, a cookbook, and one poem was used on the web site of an English Minister of Parliament. A photograph and a short piece about her was featured alongside her poem ‘Taps’, in Richard H Schneider’s 2002 book Taps: Notes From A Nation’s Heart (William Morrow/Harper Collins, New York). She collaborated on several musical works with her daughter, composer Jane Ellen, and had plans for two further books at the time of her death: a second, smaller volume of poetry and a book of short stories about her early life.

Ann was an extremely private person, yet was known for always being ready to give a helping hand in any way. She gave selflessly and tirelessly of herself and her resources throughout the years. Among her favourite causes were animal welfare, national wildlife, and the Dominican Sisters of Hope in Newburgh, New York, an order which cares for elderly religious who devoted their to lives teaching school. She made friends more easily with young people than her peers, and was a great source of encouragement to them. She was devoted to her only child and an unflagging supporter of her musical career. Although no longer able to attend Mass, she remained a life-long Catholic and was blessed to receive numerous visits from priests and Eucharistic ministers in her final days.

She is survived by her daughter; two sisters; a brother-in-law; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins; as well as by many friends around the world by whom she will be dearly missed.