No Services are planned for Ann Elizabeth Williams, 83, who passed away Saturday, January 6, 2024. She was cremated.
Annie was born in Chicago, IL, Oct. 3, 1940, where she attended public schools. She was the daughter of Allan Craft Williams and Louise Seavey (Foss) Williams, who predeceased her; she was also predeceased by a brother, Allan Cressey Williams. Survivors include many cousins.
Annie had a BA from Hiram College, Hiram, OH, in 1962, and a MS in Library Science from Syracuse University in 1963. She earned an MA in history from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, in 1968 and a PhD in medieval history from Emory University, Atlanta, GA, in 1976. While in college she spent summer vacations working as a para-professional librarian at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, and the Peabody Museum of Anthropology, Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA. She received a fellowship from the American Association of University Women when she did her research in London, England. From 1976 until 1986 Annie often taught a night class in the KU History Dept, usually about medieval English history.
Annie worked as a librarian at Mount Holyoke College, 1963-1968, at American International College, Springfield, MA, 1971-1974, and at the University of Kansas Libraries 1974-2002. While at KU she worked in the Special Collections Dept. at Spencer Research Library, and later in the Cataloging Dept. in Watson Library. During her final years at KU she also was the library liaison with the KU Dept. of Religious Studies. After retiring she ran Annie’s Used Books and Search Service on the web until 2014, and also volunteered with the GED program at the Adult Learning Center here in Lawrence.
Contributions may be made to the Lawrence Humane Society, 1805 E. 19th St, Lawrence, 66046. Arrangements are with Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, Lawrence, KS. Online condolences can be made at rumsey-yost.com
I will miss you Annie! Your sense of humor and levity of life always was appreciated.
As a brand new reference librarian arriving at KU in 1980, I found a wonderful colleague and friend in Annie. We shared history as a discipline and when I became American history bibliographer, I’d order books and she’d see they were cataloged. We teamed up to teach the then new to KU, microfiche catalog. Thank you, Annie for all you shared. Mentor, colleague, and friend.
I worked with Annie for 13 years in the KU Libraries’ Cataloging Department. I was fortunate that she — together with Barb Gaeddert — helped train me when I was a novice cataloger. We became good friends; she was always kind to me, Beverly and my son John. After we moved out of state, Annie kept in touch. We looked forward to her e-mails, her Christmas card and the postcard that she’d send from her annual trek to New England.
We have many fond memories of Annie and will miss her. We will remember her love of cats, her volunteerism, her involvement with KULSA (KU Libraries Staff Association), her dedication to genealogy and her fondness for Diet Dr. Pepper.
May her spirit rest in peace. My sincere condolences to Annie’s extended family and friends.
Annie’s passing has really saddened me deeply. We have been friends since “grammar” school (as we called it then) in Chicago in 1945. I live on the west coast and for the past 20 years, we have talked on the phone almost every week about all things Chicago and childhood friendships. She was an amazing, brilliant, and independent woman who blazed her own trail—without a cell phone! I shall miss her greatly.
Annie’s passing is very sad. I did not know of Annie’s academic and professional accomplishments – ironically, I’m not surprised.
We yarded together in her yard in east Lawrence. I found her stubborn, assertive, acerbic, engaging, delightful, challenging, mysterious, kind, authentic . . .and again, a delight to be around while pruning, raking, weeding, fixing fence, and taking care of other tasks in her yard. I will miss her fone calls and emails, I will miss her requests for this or that in her yard, I will miss the chats, her inside jokes, her sideways glances, and her feisty independent nature. Annie – you were one of a kind! Peace.
Annie was my first mentor in the KU Libraries when I started my career in Special Collections in 1978. She was curator of the Frank Lloyd Wright collection, and she started my lifetime interest in finding FLW architecture as I traveled all around the USA. She became a dear friend, and I am going to miss her endearing ability to arrange meetings of her distant family or friends with me whenever I traveled. Now, Annie, you can drive that little yellow Bug all over the place…wherever you are!
So sorry to hear of Annie’s passing. I did not know that she had been ill. She was a very capable colleague with whom I had the privilege of working at the University of Kansas Libraries. May her soul rest in peace!