catherineldf | Anne Shaw RIP

So this was going to be a post about Readercon and my trip, which was great. But today, I got some terrible news so posting about that first. I've been trying to reach my friend Anne in Des Moines for a couple of weeks now, which was not normal. We generally text at least once a week or so, but I figured that something was wrong with her phone or she was busy or something. Today I looked at our last texts and got worried. She had mentioned not feeling well, but thought it was a cold or the flu. I went looking for an alternate contact. And found her obituary. She died within 24 hours of our last texts.

I met Anne through her sister Beth, who I met through volunteering at KFAI Radio. Beth was a great friend and we shared a love of small theater productions, international music and fun cultural events, all of which we attended for a number of years.Unfortunately, Beth was diagnosed with ALS and chose to end her life rather than have her condition deteriorate further. I got to know her sister Anne a bit before Beth got sick, then a lot better as she took care of Beth, Beth got sicker and then left us. Beth died in 2019 and my mother died in early 2020, around the same time that Jana began showing signs of dementia and our city was on fire. Anne and I used to take long walks around the neighborhood and chat after Jana went to bed. In 2021, she had to move to Des Moines to take care of their parents. She took care of her dad until he died and continued taking care of her mom and her rescue cats, including one of Beth's until she passed away several weeks ago.

This year just keeps leaving bigger holes in my life and I hate it. Rest well, Anne.