On April the 1st 2022 Ann Cafferty, 69, of Clermont Florida passed peacefully in her sleep after a long illness with Congestive Heart Failure. Throughout Ann's long illness which was littered with major surgeries and procedures she never once lost hope, or displayed the slightest hint of self-pity, she was hopeful and stoic right until the very end.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Jean Murray.
Ann is survived by her husband, Denis; her two sons Andrew and Tom, her daughters in law Marisa and Melissa, her Grandchildren, Shannon, Josh, Tyler, Charlotte, Ruby, Sean, Jake and Annie, her two great Grandchildren, Bobby and Nellie and her beloved sister Julie.
Ann was born on September 30 1952 in the heavily industrialized town of Widnes Lancashire in the North West of England, it was there growing up in post war England during the fifties at the age of seven that Ann contracted the now rare disease of Rheumatic Fever which unbeknown at the time was to lead to her heart valve problems much later in life.

She Married Denis in 1972 on Merseyside where she worked as a typist, Denis and Ann lived very frugally in a small one bedroomed rented apartment until they scraped enough money together to buy their first home before starting a family, Ann gave birth to Andrew in 1974 and to Tom in 1978, she instilled in them her own family values and to the very last day of her life she was immensely proud of the first-class family-oriented men they have become.

She eventually left the North West of England and after brief spells living in Cheshire and Yorkshire she eventually settled in the town of Kettering in Northamptonshire.

Ann felt a real belonging in Kettering, she loved her work, her home, her friends and everything about her life there.

Ann and Denis had purchased a vacation home in Florida in 2003 and had spent many happy winters travelling and exploring the US from their Sunshine State base.

It was after they both took early retirement in the UK that Ann decided her idea of retirement didn't include waiting around idly for something to happen, especially during the English wintertime.

In 2013 Denis and Ann decided to invest in a startup business in the US which proved successful on every count, a great location and lifestyle and it enabled them to work and be together 24/7 after being apart Monday to Friday for twelve years as Denis prior to early retirement had worked away from home in London and Scotland.

Ann once again loved her life and everything about it in Florida, her home, her friends and her neighbors she even found an outlet for her loving nature of caring for anybody or anything that needed a break, she registered with Polka dogz a volunteer organization dedicated to fostering small dogs that were homeless for a variety of reasons but generally dogs that had some form of physical or mental hang ups.

After successfully taking in and putting on the road to recovery and forever homes a good number of troubled dogs she became a "failed foster dog mother" when she came across Brandy a dog who she could not let go.

Ann's time with Brandy in-between procedures have been some of the happiest periods of her life.

She walked up to five miles a day through her beloved Lake Louisa State Park and in-between major surgeries she covered every inch of the thirty miles of wild life trails despite her avid fear of snakes and pigs !

Ann who was an avid reader and strong storyteller was educated in the North West of England were she excelled in English Language and developed a passion for English Literature. She believed strongly in the family values created by reading bedtime story books to children, she was inspired to write her own during a period of convalescence while waiting for her English grandchildren who she had not seen for several years to visit her.

Ann enjoyed reading her books about a gnome called Mr Beesley to groups of less fortunate children at schools locally and in our local library, though I think a lot of the children were just as entertained and fascinated by Ann's accent and delivery as much as they were by Mr Beesleys exploits.

Ann also found immense joy and fascination from her study of her family genealogy and her Irish roots, she visited the west coast of Ireland to see gravestones firsthand and visit long lost distant cousins all of whom fell in love with her on first meeting.

I would ask you all to keep her in your hearts, remember the love and kindness with which she lived her life, and to know now she is at peace with Robert and her Mum in a place were you are not constantly taking your blood pressure and waiting for the next procedure.

RIP ANN

In lieu of flowers, family requests memorial donations in Ann's name be made to Polka Dogz pet rescue:

https://polkadogz.org/donate/