Ann Haviland (Buck) Dalton |
| Posted 2009-07-20 by Sharla |
| Originally posted to the Wickenburg Sun web in Obituaries, on Wednesday, July 5, 2006 1:01 PM CDT. Ann Dalton She was born Annie Haviland Buck in Duluth, Minn., April 29, 1916, the oldest of three surviving children of Fred and Gladys Gilbert Buck. They lived in various houses in town, but it was the family cottage at Schultz Lake, built in 1917, that was and still is the real family “home.” Ann and her sister Phoebe and brother David spent every summer there, swimming, picking berries in the woods, swinging on the cool porch, reading, and talking in the long light of northern summer evenings. There was no indoor plumbing, just a pump for water in the kitchen and another outside by the driveway. Kerosene lamps and fireflies lit the nights. Ann loved it there. She attended grade school at Duluth State Teachers College. (In 1993 she attended the 71st reunion of her kindergarten class there.) She went to boarding school and college at Bennett College in Millbrook, N.Y., where she studied humanities and classical dance. She married George H. Dalton of Tucson on Jan. 1, 1938 and returned to Tucson with him to live. They had four children. Henry and Phoebe were born in Tucson; David and Susan were born at Ft. Riley, Kan., where George served as an officer in the U.S. Army Cavalry during World War II. Ann loved the desert. Not the heat - she missed the cool summers of Duluth. And not the glare of the sun - with her fair skin, she knew enough to stay indoors. But the beauty of it - she loved the mountains circling Tucson, the sunsets, the mild winters, the wide open skies. The marriage ended Oct. 13, 1953. Ann stayed in Tucson. She worked with Arizona Circle Theatre for 10 years, wrote a column for the Daily Reporter for a time, belonged to the Tucson Press Club. In 1971 when all of her children had married and moved on, she moved to Redwood City, Calif. Every summer, no matter where she was living, she drove to Duluth to the cottage. In Redwood City she was a member of The Retarded Children's Guild, volunteering for many years in their thrift shop, the Market of the Flea. Eventually, family ties and the desert pulled her back to Arizona. She moved to Wickenburg in May, 1987, with her longtime companion Arthur C. Hoene. She was active in a number of Wickenburg's community organizations - The Friends of Music, the Desert Caballeros Western Museum and its auxiliary, Las Senoras de Socorro, and the Wickenburg Community Hospital Auxiliary, in which she served as president in 1998-9. She was an avid reader, loved mysteries, good novels, poetry, the daily paper, and cookbooks. She loved music, especially jazz, Broadway musicals, and the classics. Ravel was a favorite, and Mozart. Evenings were spent listening to her extensive collection of records. And she could whistle. A low melody would pour out, full and in perfect pitch. She was a marvelous cook. Her kitchen was full of the best equipment, and she used it all. In her younger years, she gave great cocktail and dinner parties, with exotic foods like shrimp cooked in beer. All of her children learned to cook and entertain, not from her - she wasn't a teacher - but because of her. They knew how things should taste and figured out the rest on their own. She was a great listener, a great friend, and a keen observer of human nature. She had her own calm wisdom. One by one, acquaintances, strangers, friends, even her family doctors, made their way to her dining room table to pour out their stories. Her common sense responses could be counted on. She had friends of all ages, and they remained her friends throughout the years. She was not a “cookie-gramma.” She liked her children and grandchildren just fine for very short periods of time. She liked them much better when they grew up and became interesting. Then she befriended them. Her children all enjoyed her, and to eternal credit, she made each of them feel equally loved. That was a gift beyond price. She understood them all, and accepted them as they were. She enjoyed the desert wildlife and kept a faucet dripping over a shallow trough for them. She also enjoyed shouting at them to go away when they came to drink. The javelinas came anyway, and the birds. The coyotes serenaded her nightly in gratitude. She grumbled about them when she talked on the phone. She had a wry, subtle sense of humor. Her rancher son-in-law received a number of unusual gifts from an anonymous sourceŠ She was spontaneously generous in many ways. Sometimes a package would arrive - a toy or an interesting book. Once she paid $12 in overnight express postage to send a small box to Spokane. Fetching it at the post office, her daughter opened it for the curious clerks. Instantly a flood of fragrance filled the room - a sprig of orange blossoms from Mom's tree. The box was passed from hand to hand down the waiting line, every face bent forward to sip the scent of desert springtime on that cold northwestern afternoon. Sometimes she would send a check, no strings attached. The money was unbidden, wonderful, but that wasn't the point. It was a message: Mom understood. Most of all, she was elegant. She looked classy, even in the most casual shorts and tops. Her skirts swirled around her as she walked. She carried herself with the ease of royalty. Dressed to go out, she was chic. Her house was elegant, full of books and unusual stuff. Her life was elegant. She lived quietly, almost reclusively, even in the last four months when she was in the excellent, loving care of my Father's Retirement Ranch. Even there, she lived in her own way, on her own terms. On May 21, 2006, she died there, still on her own terms. She lay down to rest after lunch and passed on - just what she intended to do. What better way to go? She is survived by her children: Henry and his wife Penny of Louisville, Colo., Phoebe and her husband Tom Ritter of Kirkland, Ariz., David and his wife Donna of Tucson, Susan and her husband Eberhard Schmidt of Spokane, Wash.; 10 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren with one on the way; her sister-in-law Lee Buck; one nephew and four nieces; and her longtime companion Arthur C. Hoene of Wickenburg. A memorial service will be held July 12 at 1 p.m. at the Wickenburg Funeral Home, 187 N. Adams Street. Donations may be made in Ann Dalton's name to the Wickenburg Library. |
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