Anne Burns Hillenbrand's Obituary
ANNE BURNS HILLENBRAND
OBITUARY
December 1st, 2015
When she became a widow at the age of 39, Anne Hillenbrand suddenly found herself with a small VA pension, six children to feed, and eight horses. It was a daunting situation, but she handled it as she handled everything by being smart, persistent, devoted to her family, kind to even those inconveniencing to her and, above all, relentlessly resilient.
Anne Louise Burns was born on July 23rd, 1926 to a successful car salesman in Dayton, Ohio who made sure to pass on the business savvy which provided his family with lives of relative comfort during the Depression to his children. She spent her childhood reading, swimming and charming others with the disarming sincerity that would become her hallmark the rest of her life. After high school, she followed her older brother to Washington University in St. Louis where she would eventually earn a degree in Chemistry, English and Psychology, but not before she met a young medical student named Henry Melvin (Mel) Hillenbrand, whose first words to her – or rather, to her brother – were “Where have you been keeping her all my life!”
They married in 1948.
They spent the subsequent years starting a family while Mel completed various internships and residencies across the country, including a stint in the Navy. In 1955 he accepted a position as the first full-time pathologist at Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They found a home, made many friends and served the community through the hospital, their church and other philanthropic endeavors too numerous to recount.
In 1965 Mel died of an acute heart attack. Despite her grief, she executed her husband’s will with a strength and resolve that impressed everyone she dealt with, particularly Verne Huber, the manager of the local Northwestern Mutual Life office, who offered her a job. Anne accepted and became the first female NML agent between Milwaukee and Upper Michigan. By the time she retired after a career that spanned five decades she had sold 998 life insurance policies to everyone from the young men who dated her daughters to the IRS agent who audited her over Mel’s horses.
Her greatest accomplishment, however, was her family. Each of her children graduated from college, succeeded professionally and built families as loving and nurturing as the one she built for them. She is survived by six children: Melanie Hillenbrand, Roch Hillenbrand, Karola Jungbacker, Eric Hillenbrand, Monica White and Christopher Hillenbrand; sixteen grandchildren: Justin Hillenbrand, Molly Hillenbrand, Ian Jungbacker, Erik Jungbacker, Kiernan Jungbacker, Brittany Jungbacker, Logan Jungbacker, Jeremy Hillenbrand, Jason Hillenbrand, Morgan Savage, Jared Hillenbrand, Christian Hillenbrand, Meghan Boyett, Lucas McGill, Brian Hillenbrand and Austin Hillenbrand; and ten great-grandchildren Carolyn Vernon, Sophie Vernon, Lily Hillenbrand, Ellie Hillenbrand, Miles Jungbacker, Annie Jungbacker, Scarlett Hillenbrand, Juliet Hillenbrand, Ruffin Boyett, Isabel Savage, and another on the way
Anne extended strangers the same kindness she gave to friends and family. To her own children she was affectionately known as “Mad Anne” as an acknowledgement of her uncommon will to live life completely. She was also known more simply as “Grannie Annie,” not only to her grandchildren, but to everyone else who wanted to adopt this incomparable woman who always loved in greater measure than she grieved.
She was a voracious reader who enjoyed few things more than a good mystery and an avid golfer who continued to play into her 80s. She traveled extensively, setting foot on four different continents. She was a beguiling conversationalist who could make small talk feel like an epiphany. Her unrelenting positive outlook on life, even in the face of tremendous loss, was buttressed by her devout faith and was as natural to her as it was infectious to others.
Anne Burns Hillenbrand passed through life with an effortless grace, élan and dignity. On November 30th, 2015 in Oshkosh Wisconsin, she rejoined her beloved husband – who addressed his gifts to her “To my Isolde” – in the hereafter.
She never remarried.
A visitation service will be held on Wednesday December 2nd, from 5PM to 7Pm at Fiss & Bills – Poklasny, 865 S Westhaven Drive. A memorial Mass will be at 1:30 PM on December 3rd , 2015 will be held at Most Blessed Sacrament (formerly St. Peters)
In lieu of flowers donation should be made to:
Anne Burns Hillenbrand Family Scholarship Fund;
c/o U.W. Oshkosh Foundation
625 Pearl Avenue
Oshkosh Wisconsin, 54901
Fiss & Bills Poklasny Funeral Home
865 S. Westhaven Drive
Oshkosh, WI 54904
(920)235-1170
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