Annie and I met over 30 years ago. We were drawn together like magnets and we never knew why. Maybe because she had been a tug boat captain in South America and I worked with a missile launcher on Navy ships all over the world. I was instantly drawn to her by her grace, her smile, her kindness and her gentle and elegant way.  I was one of the lucky ones who received the gift of having Annie in my life. Without knowing, she taught me how to be. I wanted to be like her. I tried to emulate her all the years I knew her. I traveled frequently when I was working and I used to call her from many places usually complaining about something or asking her advice about some grave matter in my life and her answer was always the same, “Love”.  We shared so many life adventures.  It makes me smile to remember my sweet friend.  Even when busy we’d reach out to each other often and every time it  was when we’d been thinking of each other. They say it’s the ones left behind  who suffer the most. It’s true. I know she has crossed over to a place as beautiful and full of love as she is. I will always miss my friend. May God hold her gently in the palm of His hand until we meet again. 💖

When Alyssa and I were born, our grandma was working on a tug boat in San Diego Bay. It was here that she got the nick name, Tug Boat Annie. We always knew she wasn’t a traditional Granny and she needed a unique moniker. We loving called her, Tug.

My senior year of high school, she took my sister and I to San Diego to explore the city and see the colleges. I was so nervous, but Tug had a confidence in me that rubbed off. We were excited to be traveling with her and learning more about her history in San Diego. I fell in love with the city. It was this trip where I decided I only wanted to attend SDSU and make the move to San Diego. It was the most life changing decision for me in many ways and I’m happy to still live there today.

As a child, I looked at my grandmother with wonder. She was magical. She was Tug Boat Annie. She was a ballroom dancer. She was an artist. She was so many things, and she always approached life with a sense of wonder and an openness to the power of the universe. She was anything she wanted to be, and that sense of adventure and possibility inspired me in my own life aspirations: I too, could be anything I wanted to be, go anywhere I wanted to go.

Throughout college, Annie and I would always make time to get together for lunch and maybe a trip to the art store when I was home visiting. I have the most beautiful memory of enjoying our meal together in the cottage garden of a small cafe in Summerland while she told me stories of her life as a young adult and I shared my experiences from college. She was always interested, and always supportive of my work and my hobbies; gifts that shaped me into the person I am today.

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OBITUARY

Elizabeth "Annie" McGraw

September 27, 1939 – October 5, 2023

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