Ann Sawyer Tipps, a.k.a. Nana, passed from this life on Oct. 18, 2024, at her home in Lynchburg. She was 90-years-old and was a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She had a soft voice and a frequent and almost magical smile that she shared readily. Ann was also tiny and known to giggle on occasion.

Ann started out in Moore County (Lynchburg and Marble Hill), until she met the love of her life while still in high school. That long-legged Tipps boy, as her grandmother called him, took her away from the home place and they wandered in the wilderness (Murfreesboro and Nashville) for a few years before they made it back to Tullahoma. Probably worth mentioning that next month, they would have been married 72 years.

Ann was a baby-whisperer, a scratcher of backs, maker of quilts, cross-stitcher, seamstress, gifted cook and baker, and keeper of a stash of cookies and Kit-Kat bars for the grandkids. She had more practical skills, too, and is known to have taught several of us how to whistle. She could fold a twenty-dollar bill to almost nothing and slip it into the hand of an unsuspecting grandkid without anyone seeing anything. There’s no telling how many Halloween costumes, Easter dresses, and every other item of clothing she made for her kids and grandkids. I don’t want to give the impression she was perfect because she wasn’t. I mean, she would occasionally take an unsuspecting kid to the fabric store, the world’s most boring place. But this is offset by the fact that she was the kindest, gentlest person many of us knew, traits she apparently inherited from her mother.

That kindness usually took the form of just taking care of family, friends, and strangers. She just couldn’t help it. On reflection though, it’s not clear she ever met a stranger. Locally, Ann was a hospital volunteer and helped prepare at least 1,000 meals for shut-ins through First Methodist Church in Tullahoma. She was a member of Family Community Education (formerly Home Demonstration Club) in Lynchburg. And her kids also remember her sacrifices as Girl Scout Cookie Mom and creator of color guard flags for the high school band.

Ann also took this show on the road and participated with multiple mission trips to Estonia and Latvia, as well as traveling to help with hurricane relief here in the U.S. In recent years, she worked with Quilts for Kids, an organization that provides free quilts for children facing serious illness, trauma, abuse or natural disasters. As near as we can tell, Ann made about 200 quilts for those kids.

She didn’t need an organization to help, however. Ann simply had a giving heart and was known to “adopt” anyone who needed a meal, sewing lessons, childcare, or just a friendly face and cup of coffee (and usually a piece of pie or cake). People have always come up to her kids with stories about how much they love Ann and how she helped them. And we knew it was true. Her kids and grandkids watched how she cared for others and tried to take those lessons to heart.

In later years, the comments from strangers also included how cute she was that she and Dudley walked around Lynchburg holding hands. And they weren’t wrong, it was cute. But there was also a lot of love between those two. We all learned a lot about love and marriage from her, too.

Once the kids grew up, moved out, and gave her time to breathe, Ann went to work in the dental office of Dr. Charles Marshall. After she moved back to Lynchburg, she worked several years as a hostess at Miss Mary Bobo’s, where she spent a lot of her time explaining fried okra to people from the North.

Ann leaves behind her beloved husband, Dudley, her children, Teresa Nichols (Neil), Susan Sanders (Randy), and Dale Tipps (Angela), as well as grandchildren Walt Sanders (Brooke), Liz Rau (Cody), Virginia Ann Tipps (Amelia Clark), and Samuel Tipps. She also leaves three great-grandchildren: Noah Rau, Maverick Sanders, and Shephard Sanders. She is preceded in death by her parents, Ransom and Ruby Grant Sawyer, and her brother Sammy Sawyer.

Visitation was held Sunday, Oct. 20 at Jennings-Moore-Cortner Funeral Home in Lynchburg. The funeral followed in the sanctuary of First Methodist Church. Interment followed in Lynchburg Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First Methodist Church, Tullahoma or to the charity of your choice.

Jennings-Moore-Cortner Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.

Tullahoma News – Oct. 30, 2024