Eliza A. “Ann” Englehart Storey, 92, died Thursday, July 4, 2019. Ann was born June 24, 1927, at home, 1821 Market St., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to William Homer Englehart and Margaret Row Englehart.
The last of four children and the only girl, she was raised in the Fourth Evangelical & Reformed Church, where both of her parents taught Sunday school for many years. Her mother, Margaret, taught private piano lessons and raised a family of avid and accomplished musicians; the house was always full of music, from impromptu family instrumental ensembles and singalongs to semi-professional and professional jazz combos.
A graduate of John Harris High School, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Ann attended Hood College, Frederick, Maryland, to study education and music, developing her love of violin and keyboard music. In preparation for a career in education, she was a student teacher in Baltimore, Maryland, during World War II. In her senior year at Hood College, she was concertmaster and first violin in the college symphony.
Shortly after her childhood sweetheart, James Richard “Dick” Storey, returned from the Navy, they were married Aug. 27, 1949. No surprise…they had known each other as toddlers, with their two families living a few blocks apart. They settled first in Bergenfield, New Jersey, where Dick worked as a food chemist for the National Biscuit Company. Just before their first son, Douglas, was born in 1952, they relocated back to Harrisburg, starting a pattern of periodic movement that lasted for most of their married life.
In 1955, following a new job with Campbell Soup after the birth of their second son, James, Ann and Dick moved to Merchantville, New Jersey, where their third son, Robert, was born. Over the next 40 years, they lived in 10 different locations around the United States, including New Jersey, Minnesota, California, Arkansas and Ohio, punctuated by marathon summer camping trips to national parks and monuments in the Pacific Northwest, the Sierras, the U.S. and Canadian Rockies, the desert Southwest, the Appalachians and the Blue Ridge.
Ann was the mainstay of the family during the moving years, fiercely proud and devoted to her husband and children, cheerfully optimistic about the adventures around the next corner, setting and living by high standards of compassion and generosity. Every day of her life, she lived the saying her mother had taught her, “The only way to be happy is to be kind and good.”
Always active in church and music no matter where they lived, Ann sang in the choir and served at various times as church choral director and organist. In mid-life, she went back to school and studied for her Master of Arts in Organ Music at the University of Arkansas. In retirement, Ann and Dick relocated from South Jersey to Williamsburg, where they were both active in the church choir and music programs at the Williamsburg United Methodist Church, as well as the Williamsburg Choral Guild, and were devoted patrons of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Ann and Dick continued to be ardent travelers, making numerous trips to Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Guides on the Milford Sound trek on New Zealand’s South Island applauded them as one of the oldest couples to complete that beautiful walk. After the children grew up and moved out, the small tent trailer was replaced by an R.V. that took them all over the United States to revisit many favorite places and to visit new ones like Big Bend and Alaska. For the past 4 ½ years, they had been residents at the Williamsburg Landing community.
Ann was preceded in death by her brothers, Edwin (Hazel), Richard (Ida Mae) and William (Loudelle); and sister-in-law, Marjorie (William) Reinaker.
She is survived by her husband of almost 70 years, Richard; three sons, Douglas (Claire), James (Robin) and Robert (Anne); seven grandchildren, Robert, Sarah, Brian, Nathan, Elena, Nicholas and Michael; three great-grandchildren, Madison, Jane and Mattax; and many nieces and nephews.
Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m., Wednesday, July 10, at Williamsburg United Methodist Church, 500 Jamestown Road
Williamsburg.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made by check payable to the Williamsburg United Methodist Church, with note indicating Messiah Fund in memory of Ann Storey, and sent to WUMC, 500 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185. This was one of Ann’s passions — a major annual singalong event in the community with a professional orchestra and period instrumentation. Alternatively, donations may be made to any other charity of your choice.
Share online condolences with the family at Nelsen Funeral Home.
