Page created by: The Family of Ann Leden Ascher Stevens

Ann was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease more than 14 years ago. Her aunt also had Parkinson's Disease. She managed very well until she also had to deal with surgeries for carpal tunnel disease. Ann loved to sew, garden, craft. She made clothes for all her kids and crazy craft items like hiking backpacks and little house on the prairie caps. She cross-stitched ring-bearer pillow covers for all her nieces and nephews. She made stockings and tree skirts. She became an expert in American Girl Doll Clothing.

She loved her garden and she canned and froze the fruits of the labor (well, the children's weeding labor). Baking at Chrismastime was a quite a production. Russian tea cakes were her favorites.

Ann was also an incredible friend. She maintained friendships over the years from childhood to people she only met recently. She grew up in a small town in northern Illinois, and she stayed so close with so many of the people she attended everything from a one-room school house to her cheerleader days at Winnebago High School. She is still friends with college roommates and friends from Illinois State University. Over the years, the friends she made when she lived in Rockford and Dixon, IL are still her close Ann didn't have sisters, she was the youngest of four with three older brothers, so her friends became her sisters! So many of those friends now help watch over Ann's own children and grandchildren.

As her disease progressed, she was unable to do so many of things she loved. Thankfully, her love for reading never slowed. She also added Tai Chi classes to her past-times. In fact, the day before she entered her final decline, she did a Tai Chi class. She was convinced she'd eventually get her driver's license reinstated, and even know it was not going to happen, she kept that goal in mind!

She loved her husband, Jim, and he did his best to care for her despite her stubborness, which was exasperated by the disease. Her seven grandchildren were her pride and joy! She was pretty proud of her four children, too! We could go on and on about her love her for family, but we know where we stood with her and so did the people around her! She was loved, and her loss has created a void for all who knew her, especially her family for it was her family that meant the most to her!