Anne E. Cagney

Anne Cagney lived a long and very full life. From her early years in Charlevoix, Michigan, she worked hard to earn an education, raise her family and enjoy the fruits of a good life. With education a top priority, Anne went on to become a dedicated teacher and deep-seated advocate for education. Her family, however, always came first in her heart and she loved spending her time being a devoted wife, mother and grandmother to the people who brought her life extraordinary joy.

During the 1920s, Americans were enjoying luxuries such as the automobile, telephone and radio, and importantly, women had gained the right to vote. For Donald and Alice (Madill) McHugh of Charlevoix, Michigan, it was a time of great joy for their family as they delighted in welcoming the birth of their daughter, Anne, on July 8, 1923. The McHugh family would eventually include seven children, with Anne being the fifth.

To support their large family, Donald worked as a builder in addition to running the winter sports program in their town. Meanwhile, Alice was a teacher and busy homemaker. When Anne was 9, the family moved to the coastal town of New Smyrna Beach, Florida for a few years while her father did finish work on a boat. Shortly after moving back to Charlevoix, Anne’s father died unexpectedly in 1937, and her mother then moved the family to Detroit. Here, Anne was an excellent student, especially in literature, at St. Benedict School and Rochester High.

After graduating in 1941, Anne went on to attend Nazareth College and earned her BA in 1944. She then taught for two years before moving west to Los Angeles, California to be near her sister, Monica. She stayed in the City of Angels for a few years, during which time she took some graduate classes at the University of Southern California. After returning to Detroit, Anne went back to teaching English at Clausen, then at Shrine of the Little Flower and finally in the Birmingham Public Schools. During this time, she also went to graduate school at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she completed her Master’s Degree in 1951.

In 1953, a wonderful thing happened to Anne – she met the love of her life, William Cagney. The two were set up on a blind date at a Nazareth alumni dance. Anne and Bill hit if off right from the start and after dating for some time, they were married at Holy Name Catholic Church in Bingham on November 26, 1955. The newlyweds then jumped in their car and headed to California for a romantic honeymoon. Once the honeymoon was over, the couple moved to Scotts to live on Bill’s family’s very large dairy farm, which consisted of 130 acres, though they farmed 500. In 1957, Anne and Bill started a family of their own with the arrival of their first child, daughter Colleen. She was later joined by Edward, Joseph, James and Kathleen, rounding out the Cagney family with five children.

Anne stayed home when the children came, wanting to dedicate her time to raising them well. And she exemplified all the things a mother should be – she was patient, caring and generous with her time. From taxiing her kids to school and sports activities and being a 4-H Leader and advocate for education, Anne’s passion was to support her family. Being a teacher, she strongly emphasized the importance of education not only to her own children, but as an advocate in her community. Her two oldest children attended Pavilion No. 4, a one-room school, and Anne became involved in getting Portage to extend its boundaries to include this school. Later on, she was instrumental in starting an Educational Assistance Fund at St. Joseph Catholic School.

As a wife and mother, Anne had many talents around the house. She was a self-taught cook, since she believed if you could read, you could cook. Her best dish was corn and sausage. On Sundays, though, Anne enjoyed going out to breakfast after church. She and Bill traveled a little, and enjoyed trips to Ireland, Florida and California, and visits back to Charlevoix. Over the years, Anne stayed very close with her siblings, especially her sisters, Monica, Alice, Marnie and Kathleen (“Aunt Pie”). After Monica passed away in the 1990s, her children drew close to Anne and visited often.

With the mind set that one is never too old to learn, Anne loved to read just about anything, though biographies were most interesting to her, especially if about Al Capone. She made sure to keep up on current events, and with the presidential elections coming up, she staunchly stood behind Democratic Senator Barack Obama. Anne even wore a shirt supporting him to her cancer treatments. In later years, Anne became interested in genealogy, and with the help of her granddaughter, Marianne, she was able to compile a notebook full of history of both families back hundreds of years, and in the process also found lost relatives. Anne also put together the history of the Pavilion No. 4 School, which her children attended. For her cultural side, she enjoyed the arts and took KIA trips and visited the Civic Theatre and museums. Anne was an active alumnus of her alma mater, Nazareth College and enjoyed her frequent lunches with “the girls”, her tight-knit group of college friends. She also had good taste in music, and enjoyed listening to Nat King Cole, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra and the swing tunes of Big Bands.

Anne Cagney was a woman of true character, with a love for teaching and learning, a love only exceeded by the passion she held for her family and grandchildren whom she held so dear to her heart.

Anne Cagney, age 84, beloved wife, mother and grandmother, died on Monday, February 25, 2008, in Kalamazoo. Learn more about Anne, view her Life Story film, and visit with her family and friends on Thursday, February 28, from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Life Story Funeral Home, Betzler, 6080 Stadium Drive, Kalamazoo (375-2900), where a prayer service will held at 7:30 p.m. that evening. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, February 29, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Following the mass, food and fellowship will be shared in the parish hall. Interment will be in Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

Anne was preceded in death by five siblings: Donald, Margaret, Alice, Monica and Douglas. Surviving is her husband of 51 years, William Cagney; five children: Colleen (Anthony Kerzich) Cagney of Portage, Edward (Schelle) Cagney of Scotts, Joseph Cagney of Galesburg, James Cagney of Scotts, and Kathleen Cagney of Chicago, IL; six grandchildren: Anthony, Ruby and Sean Cagney-Kerzich and Marianne, William and Alicia Cagney; a sister, Kathleen Drzick of Portage; and many nieces and nephews. Please visit Anne’s personal web page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you may share a memory or photo with her family or sign her online guest book before coming to the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Joseph Catholic Church or the Multiple Myeloma Foundation.