Ann Quin

A requiem mass for Ann will be on Wednesday, November 13, at 3:30pm at St. Mary the Virgin Catholic Church on 1408 N. Davis, Arlington, TX 76012. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Catholic Near East Welfare Association/CNEWA: http://www.cnewa.org/home.aspx?ID=26&pagetypeID=12&sitecode=HQ Laura Ann (Allen) Quin, 78, died on November 6, 2019 in a hospital in Arlington, Texas, surrounded by family. She was born August 13, 1941 in Brownwood, Texas to Betty Ann (Beene) and Robert Cooper Allen. She grew up in nearby Comanche with her younger brother, Robert Franklin. She earned all Grade Levels of the Girl Scouts. She graduated from Comanche High School in 1959, and was the first in her family to go to college, earning an honors degree in English from Texas Christian University in 1963. She moved to Boston, where she worked for Harvard Business School as a secretary and editor, then to Washington DC to be an analyst for the US Department of State. In 1965, she accepted a State Department posting to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she also volunteered for the Red Cross to (she said) get out of the house during curfews. At a party in Malaysia in 1968, she met John Quin, an Englishman and fellow globetrotter. They married in the Convent of the Good Shepherd in November 1969 and honeymooned in Thailand, Hong Kong, Texas, England, and Scotland. After living in London for six months, they moved to Japan for John's new job. While there, Ann edited Japanese-English translations and gave birth to daughters Leah, Claire, and Eleanor. After eight years in Japan, the Quins relocated to Arlington, Texas in 1978, where Ann drove a school bus and earned a master's degree in Montessori education from Texas Wesleyan University. She taught Montessori first at the Children's House and then became a founding member of the Arlington Cooperative Montessori School. She was an imaginative, inspiring teacher of first through fifth-graders, introducing the concept of fractions by smashing a flowerpot in front of the class and teaching her students about jungles by putting up a forest of banana trees in the classroom. In 1982, the Quins moved to the Netherlands, where Ann volunteered, including with the Anglo-American Theatre Group, specializing in stage make-up; she also studied Jungian dream analysis. The family relocated back to Arlington in 1986; as her daughters went through high school, Ann managed a large hotel's HR department, resigning in indignant protest after reporting the management to the Department of Labor for unlawful practices. In 1988, she converted to Catholicism, her husband's religion. In 1996, she moved with John to New Delhi, India. She fell in love with the country, volunteering for local organizations, including Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity and the Family of Disabled. In 2000, she and John retired to West Cork in Ireland, living first in Rosscarbery, then at Lackanalooha in Clonakilty, where they were members of Church of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, and Ann joined a women's prayer group. She and John continued traveling, including to see their daughters in the US, Europe, and West Africa. Ann's illness and subsequent disabilities brought them back to Arlington full-time in 2012, where she and John built a community of friends and became new parishioners of St. Mary the Virgin. They welcomed grandchildren: Merryn in 2011, then Anouk and Charlie in 2018. Throughout her 50-year marriage to John, Ann traveled the world: favorite locations included Portugal, Kenya, Mali, South Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. She also cherished privacy and solitude: she was a writer, a voracious reader, a crossword puzzle addict, and a lover of poetry, including Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Browning, and Wilfred Owen. In later years, she explored the internet for hours each day, finding stories and presents for her family and becoming an emoji connoisseur. She endured 13 years of illness and discomfort with dignity, grace and good humor, rarely complaining, and finding irreverent, disarming ways to laugh about her troubles. She loved and was loved by so many: family, friends, her children's friends, her former students, colleagues, and neighbors. Survivors include her husband John, daughters Leah, Claire, and Eleanor Quin, sons-in-law Glen Burnett and David Bailiff, grandchildren Merryn and Charlie Burnett, and Anouk Bailiff; her brother Bob Allen and sister-in-law Janice Allen; nephews Matt and Josh Allen, and their partners Sloan Allen and Jason Jokerst; and grandnieces Emma and Olivia Allen. Wade Family Funeral Home (817) 274-9233