Ann Savage

A memorial service is scheduled for 1:00 P.M. Thursday, May 12, 2011 at the First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City located at 600 NW 13th Street in Oklahoma City, OK Ann Shinquin Savage, age 84, died peacefully at home on Saturday, May 7th with her family at her side. She was was known for being family-oriented, open-minded, patient, tough, adaptable, disciplined, tactful and considerate, characteristics that served her well as a civic activist and champion of women"™s rights. She loved the ocean, especially coastal New England. Ann was born in Lahore, British India where her father ran a manufacturing plant for the British government. Her parents, Clifton Shinquin and Blanche Higgins Shinquin, were from Massachusetts. Ann lived in India with her parents until age 6, when she was sent to live with her sister Barbara and grandmother in Billerica, Massachusetts. Ann and her sister attended a boarding school in Bristol, England for children whose parents were posted to Asia until their parents were reassigned to Sydney, Australia. In late August 1939, Ann and her sister boarded a British passenger ship for their journey to Sydney. Britian declared war shortly after and their ship was seized for military duty by the British Royal Navy when they arrived in Bombay (Mumbai). Twelve-year old Ann and her older sister spent six weeks awaiting a ship flying under a neutral flag so they could continue their journey. They completed their travels via ship to Singapore and Indonesia, then by sea plane to Darwin, Australia and along the coast to Sydney. Ann remained in Sydney through the war, where she attended and graduated from the Abbotsleigh School for Girls. Ann left Sydney in 1945 to attend Radcliffe College where she received an AB in Biology. While in college, Ann decided to spend a summer in Europe, to her father"™s dismay. She saved money for the trip by baby-sitting and being a paid research subject at Harvard. She learned she could get a cheap passage on a ship if she said she was studying at the Sorbonne for the summer. She got the fare, but spent the summer touring, seeing the devastation of the war. Ann met her husband, Bob Savage, while working as a junior chemist for Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron, Ohio, where he was a management trainee. Several people had told Bob that he really needed to meet Ann Shinquin. They finally had a chance meeting at work, where he invited her to watch him play basketball. She was not much of a basketball fan at that time, but she learned to appreciate it, being the open-minded person she was. She began her life as a civic leader and activist in Billerica, Massachusetts, when she helped found a chapter of the League of Women Voters. Ann held many leadership roles in the League, serving as a member of the State Boards in Ohio and Oklahoma, president of the Oklahoma League, and member of the national Board. She was passionate about civic engagement and ensuring that people were able to receive balanced and well-reasoned information about political issues and candidates. In the 1970"™s, Ann was the Executive Director for OK ERA, an organization dedicated to the passage of the Equal Rights Ammendment in Oklahoma. During that time, she became well-versed in the history of women"™s rights, the suffrage movement on which the League of Women Voters was founded, and gender discrimination issues that passage of the ERA would address. After the amendment failed to pass, Ann ran unsuccessfully for a state senate seat. She subsequently turned her attention to writing, eventually earning a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. Ann was a dancer in her youth and loved many kinds of music, including opera, Scottish bagpipes, and American Idol. She loved animals, especially cats, and was a long time supporter of Free to Live Animal Sanctuary. Ann was very family-oriented and was adored by her family for being caring, considerate, good-humored and a bit off-beat. She was a remarkable woman and will be missed deeply. Ann is survived by Bob Savage, her son Bob Savage and wife Melissa of Alexandria, Louisiana, son Ben Savage of Oklahoma City, daughter Barbara Savage of Billerica, Massachusetts and her husband Patrick Draine, and grandchildren Robert and Ann E Savage and Caroline and Susanna Draine. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Ann Savage please visit our Sympathy Store.