Ann Prior Washburn Samuels

Ann Prior Washburn Samuels died peacefully and painlessly in Austin, TX, on October 20, 2023 at the age of 89. Ann was born during the early part of the Great Depression in 1934 in Arlington, MA, to parents John Milton Washburn, Jr., and Ruth Prior Koehler. She graduated from Northfield School for Girls in 1952, earned a B.S. in Physical Therapy from Simmons College in 1957, and an Ed.M. and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Rehabilitation Counseling from Boston University in 1964 and 1965.

Ann was a physical therapist in various healthcare settings and in the Marshfield, MA public schools. She served on the staff of the Yale-New Haven Medical Center and University Hospital at Columbus, OH, and was supervisor of the Physical Therapy department for Cedars of Lebanon Rehabilitation Center and The Queen’s Hospital in Honolulu. She also worked as a rehabilitation counselor with the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and Morgan Memorial-Goodwill Industries. Ann later transitioned to working as a school counselor in the Duxbury, MA public schools and finished her career as a mental health counselor at North River Counseling in Marshfield, MA.

Ann met her future husband Joel Myer Samuels through the Massachusetts Hospital School, and they married in 1969. Although they divorced 10 years later, they remained close. Prior to marriage, she moved around the country to pursue career opportunities, living and working in California, Connecticut, Ohio, and Hawai’i before settling in Marshfield, MA, for nearly 50 years.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ann spent a month traveling around Europe with a close friend, completed a similar trip with a different friend in the western parts of the United States and Canada, and drove cross-country by herself to explore additional national parks and sights. She instilled this independent spirit and love of travel in her daughters, introducing them as kids to long distance adventures with family trips to Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, and Vermont. She later delighted in trips with her adult daughters to both domestic and international destinations, including the Alaska Inside Passage, Bodega Bay, Colonial Williamsburg, Death Valley, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Washington, D.C., Belgium, Holland, Israel, Montreal, the Netherlands, Norway, the Panama Canal, Paris, and Scotland.

Ann was dedicated to community service throughout her life. She was an active member of the YWCA in Marshfield, where she worked at the summer day camp as a swimming teacher and for several years as camp director while her daughters attended the summer session. She supported the Sowing Seeds food bank and was a member of the Altar Guild, Eucharistic Visitors, and knitting ministry group at Trinity Church. Ann made regular donations to a variety of non-profit organizations, including both her and her daughters’ multiple alma maters. In addition, she was a frequent blood donor earlier in her life and a long-time participant in the Women’s Health Initiative, a landmark study launched in 1992 to improve health through research on risk factors, prevention, and early detection of serious health conditions to help postmenopausal women thrive.

A cat lover and Boston Red Sox fan, Ann also enjoyed swimming, reading, gardening, knitting, sewing, quilting, playing the piano and guitar, singing, and spending time at the beach. She introduced her daughters to the arts at an early age, enrolling them in music and dance lessons and taking them into Boston on the “T” to visit museums and attend plays, musicals, concerts, and dance performances.

Ann is survived by her older brother, John Milton Washburn, III (Greenville, MI); daughters Jayne Myer Samuels (Bruce Moore; Austin, TX) and Joann “Jodi” Marisa Samuels (Evan Smestad; Sacramento, CA); and grandsons Christian Joel Moore and Mateo Trubey Moore (Austin, TX).

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM at St. Christopher’s Church in Austin, TX, on December 16, 2023. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Ann’s memory to Trinity Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 388, Marshfield Hills, MA 02051.