Anna Marie Reeves

Anna Marie Lotze Reeves

     Ann, as she was fondly called by family and friends, passed away at home from cancer at the age of 82 on September 5, 2024 surrounded by friends and family. She was born at Mt. Carmel Hospital in Colville, Washington on February 28, 1942. She was the cherished only child of Walter William Jacob Lotze and Mildred Irene Runyon Lotze.

    Ann grew up in Northport, Washington in a small house on the corner of Center and 4th Avenue. She spent summers at the “Erdman place” on Onion Creek where she had many fond memories of her dad’s sawmill and a tire swing in the middle of the field. Ann’s father, Walt, passed away when she was 10 and from that point Ann was raised by her mother, an intelligent and independent woman who taught her daughter to be just like her....only a much better driver.

     Ann graduated as valedictorian from Northport High School in 1959 and attended the University of Idaho in Moscow where she earned her teaching degree. In the fall of 1964, Ann met Jim on a blind date in Moses Lake. Ann was teaching there and Jim was stationed at Larson Air Force Base. On June 18, 1966 Ann and Jim were married in the chapel at Fairchild Air Force Base and at age 24, Ann became a mom to Jim’s three children from a previous marriage, Gay, Donna, and Scott. Jim and Ann lived on Fairchild Air Force Base while he was stationed there and Ann was a substitute teacher for District 81.

     On March 2, 1970, Ann and Jim were blessed with their only child together, Ronald Runyon Reeves. Ann, Jim, and Ron spent 2 years in Okinawa where Jim was stationed and Ann taught school. Upon returning to the States, Ann and Jim settled in the Medical Lake area where Ann’s first cousin, Milton Lotze, built their home. Ann had many interests and skills including computers, Photo Shop, and Ham radio. Ann provided personal technology assistance to any friend that asked and developed such a reputation that she was asked to teach computer classes at Medical Lake Middle School. Ann also loved to fish, pick berries (especially huckleberries), garden, cook, crochet, and in the last four years of her life, learned to knit. She knitted many gifts, tea cozies, sweaters and continued to work on a final sweater even during the last week of her life.

     After Ron was in school, Ann returned to teaching, substituting in both the Spokane and Medical Lake School Districts. In 1984 Ann started back as a full-time teacher at Medical Lake where she taught middle school math and computer science. She retired in 2005, topping off over 30 years in the classroom in Moses Lake, Spokane, and Medical Lake. In 2018 she dusted off her math books to help her granddaughters ace their college math courses in calculus, statistics, and physics over the next few years.

     Genealogy was important to Ann, so after retiring from teaching, she started to research Lotze Family history, combing through historical files, data bases, old letters, and photos using the internet to reach out to distant members of the family tree. She bought a portable scanner and had Jim drive her all around the Pacific Northwest so she could scan photos and letters while visiting those holding the original documents. In 2010, she published a beautiful hardbound book complete with an index and family tree about the story of Ernst and Marie Lotze’s journey from Germany and their subsequent 12 children, one of whom was Ann’s father, Walt. After putting one family’s history to print and selling copies to the extended family, Ann turned her sites on cataloging the old photos and researching the Reeves’ family from Louisiana. She leaves behind a well-organized system of historical photos and files for both families and documented much of the family tree information on Ancestry.com.

     Ann and Jim lived in the house on Bannock street until 2016 when they moved to Battle Ground, Washington to be near Ron, Lori, Madison, and Miranda. Ann loved her granddaughters very much sharing all of her passions and interests with them including math, computers, photography, Ham radio, cooking, baking, gardening, and canning. She even taught them to flip an omelet just by tossing up from the pan! Ann hoped to foster those same intelligent, independent traits in her granddaughters.

     Throughout her life, Ann was a teacher whether in the classroom or just sharing lessons with friends and family. When she turned 80, family and friends shared some of those more memorable life lessons that they learned from Ann which was turned into a book for her to enjoy. Ann was preceded in death by her parents, step-daughter Donna, and husband, Jim. She is survived by her son, Ron (Lori) Reeves of Battle Ground, Washington, and her granddaughters: Madison (Brittney) Reeves of Spokane, Washington and Miranda Reeves of Battle Ground. She is also survived by two of her step-children: Gay (Keith) Herve of Northpole, Alaska, along with her children and grandchildren, and Scott (Kalinda) Reeves of Omaha, Nebraska along with his children, grandchildren, and new great-grand-child, as well as a favorite cousin, a group of wonderful friends, and her Spokane “Pinochle Pals”.

     In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. www.ewgsi.org

Services:

Saturday September 21st 11:00 AM

Layne's Funeral Services

16 NE Clark Ave

Battle Ground, WA 98604

A celebration of Anna's life will be held on Saturday, September 21, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Ron and Lori Reeves Home.