Ann Pruitt passed away in Boulder Colorado, in March 2024, from complications of kidney cancer.
She will be deeply missed by her family and friends, including those who she met while helping people with hearing loss and cancer, her co-workers at the Boulder Public Library and neighbors over the years. Her love and appreciation of adventures and nature, especially in Colorado, are an inspiration to all who knew her.
I will miss Ann terribly. We had a special friendship based on love of Colorado and the outdoors and helping kidney cancer patients. on Smart Patients forum. We often planned a uniform approach by private email for someone who needed a lot of help or encouragement-I find those going back to 2018. We were lucky enough to meet Ann twice on hiking trips to the Rockies. When my husband was going downhill we often woke to find she’d sent him a photo of a lake or flower or sunset to start his day. Ann had a lot of humor and perseverance. She will truly be missed by the cancer patients and friends who knew her.
I knew Ann through Smart Patients and became fond of her over the years as we exchanged stories of adventures on Maui and our mutual experiences of having lived in Boulder. She was ever helping others and her wry sense of humor and eye for photography. Admired and respected, she will be mossed by many, including myself.
Ann will be missed. I met her through smartpatients and we gathered with a small group in Colorado. We would meet and discuss our lives , and through the years we witnessed the ups and downs of life! Her attitude was solid and strong. She did life with grace and resilience.
Ann always had a late night text, an update on her many trips to the mountains, or her many trips to Hawaii .
I will always remember her in a Hawaiian shirt and her love for pecan pie! Aloha Ann????
My sister has left this world for a better life in a world free of cancer. I miss her dearly but know that she is enjoying her trip with new adventures and places of joy that will bring her the happiness and freedom that she seeks in her new life.
I knew Ann for the last several years of her life through our Smart Patients community online. She was one of a kind. Whip smart, irreverent, hilarious and tough as she needed to be. I’ve learned a lot from her about how to manage this burden with humor and grace. I’ll miss her a great deal.
When I met Ann in 1990 she was my guide in the world of Hearing Loss. We worked on that National Convention together in 1991 and I have her framed photo from the SHHH Magazine Cover over my desk. I will treasure all our conversations about travels to New Zealand, Hawaii, and the Colorado Mountains. Ann’s was a life well-lived and she will be deeply missed by many. A beautiful soul that is now soaring unencumbered by cancer. Aloha Ann.
Oh, my. Where to begin. Ann was my first contact with the organization SHHH (now HLA). She was instrumental in me getting started on a journey that made dealing with my hearing loss so much easier. She was such an advocate and friend. That was at least 35 years ago! Since then we have enjoyed a special friendship, getting together when she would come to SC to see her mom and sister (we moved from CO to NC 22 years ago) and when I would be back in CO. She called my husband ‘honey buns’ because he supported me well and all my hearing loss friends like him for his clear and loud voice. We shared a years long love of John Denver and his music and sometimes shared various items we had related to him like an old magazine or book of song lyrics. I’m going to go to Aspen for the JD tribute in her memory!
Ann loved her CO, was a nature lover and fiercely independent. I’m so glad she got to enjoy her ‘Born Free’ years of traveling. It was her happy place — traveling with Curly Sue. She fought this last battle with such strength and determination. She was ready for and deserves to be at peace.
We love you, Ann. You will be missed and remembered fondly.
Sad to hear of Ann’s passing but I respect her decision to take some control of a situation that left her with little say on most days. Her transition has reminded me of this pic, showing 8 Smartpatients who met for lunch in Loveland, Colorado back in 2019. After losing Ann, I am the only survivor from this wonderful group that includes: Painter Girl, KarenB, Jerry (Cairforhim), Photoman, Colorado Ann, Linda (Dog Rescuer) and me. I’m not sure how I feel.
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Ann was a gem — unique, fit, smart and fun! She dedicated years to helping people with hearing loss. She founded the Boulder, Colorado, Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. I met her in 1989 when she served on the national board of the organization. The local chapter lives on today doing great work in Colorado. Even during the last months of her illness she was needling me with “Go Gators” (her beloved University of Florida), because our son went to the rival University of Georgia (“Go Dawgs!”). In addition, she loved the Rocky Mountains, John Denver, her various dogs, her family, and the friends she made across country on her adventures.