Anne Agnes Steveley's Obituary
Anne Agnes Steveley passed away Tuesday, October 23, 2018, surrounded by her daughters. She was born in Gourock, Scotland, on January 6, 1940. At age 16, she immigrated to America to ready a home for her Mum and three younger sisters in Salem, Oregon. Through mutual friends, she met and married Bob Steveley, an enlisted Navy sailor, and embarked on new life as a Navy wife! Over the next seven years, she bore five daughters and moved from Long Beach, California, to Yokosuka, Japan, Concord, California, and back to Japan again where her youngest was born. Bob’s next deployment sent the family to Hawaii for five years, then on to San Diego, Anne’s home for 48 years!
Anne was an amazing Mother! She was a devoted and nurturing Mommy, as well as disciplinarian, spiritual model, household CEO, tutor, chauffer and loving wife! When her daughters were very young, she gladly accepted the role of nurse and caregiver for two daughters who had Cystic Fibrosis by scheduling doctor appointments, managing prescriptions and administering respiratory therapy over the years.
Anne and her girls were very close! She instilled a strong sense of independence, determination, accountability and a devotion to the Catholic faith in her daughters. She was very creative, sewing most of the girls’ clothes and dressing them alike when they were little. She showered them with surprises like lunchbox notes announcing a trip to the circus or a movie, trips to the beach or Navy Base pool when they lived in Hawaii and visits from her Mum, their Gramma Mamie. She taught them to sew, macramé, garden, cook and bake. She encouraged imagination; setting up a whole Barbie “town” in her sewing room and pretending to be their landlord and “check-in” to their rooms after a long day of housecleaning! Her positive attitude and “can-do” spirit lives on in her girls!
In Heaven, Anne is reunited with her beloved husband of 59 years, Robert Vincent Steveley and two of her precious daughters, Theresa Marie, her oldest, and Melissa Lea, her youngest. She is survived by three of her five daughters; Michelle Rose (Michael), Frances Wiegand (Robert), and Victoria Fregosi (Michael) and four of her sisters, Isabel Dow, Kathleen Tollworthy (George), Margaret Brunsman (Bob), and Theresa Walker.
She has eight amazing grandchildren; Jennifer Steveley (Ryan De Los Santos), Matthew Fregosi, Selene Fregosi, Anthony Fregosi, Adam Wiegand, Emily Gordinier (Max), Sarah Rose, and Megan Rose.
Anne’s family will have a celebration of her beautiful life, at a later date, when all her loving family can celebrate together.
Donations may be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or St. Jude’s Hospital for Children.
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