Ann Garmy McLain 1939-2023

Ann was born on Sept. 6, 1939, and raised in Philadelphia, Pa., and Canton by her parents, Robert J. Garmy and Kathryn Harkins Elliott Dougherty. Their home was filled with laughter, song, and love, and shared with her two sisters, Kathleen and Joan, who along with Ann sang to “Camelot,” “West Side Story” and “My Fair Lady” while cleaning the house.

Ann cherished her father’s memories of his mother, Eva Meyer, and stories of Grandmother Rose’s elderberry farm. The Garmy family spent summers at Mount Gretna, Pa., reuniting with Ann’s beloved cousins, Richard and Harry Hagan, George, Mary, Larry and Chris McKenna, and singing “Old King Glory.”

Ann graduated from Canton Central Catholic High School and matriculated at Ursuline College in Cleveland. She spent summers working at the Balsams Resort in New Hampshire and spending a year living with two dear friends in New York City, where she developed a love of jazz music.

The Garmy family moved to Warren in the 1960s, where Ann worked as a social worker at the Trumbull County Department of Health and Human Services. After leaving work early one day, Ann traveled by train through the Rockies to join the Warren Ski Club earning her the title “Aspen Annie.”

Ann met and fell in love with attorney William P. McLain. They were married at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in 1966 with “Edelweiss” as their wedding song, followed by their infamous ski honeymoon trip, driving a red Corvair through a blizzard to the Whiteface Chalet in Lake Placid, N.Y., and Stowe, Vermont, staying at the Von Trapp Family Lodge. Ann and Bill built the first house, and raised their four children, in what would become the greatest neighborhood in the history of the world behind Blessed Sacrament Church, where their children were baptized and received their First Holy Communion.

These were the days of block parties, spontaneous children’s parades, outdoor plays, random trumpet serenades, vegetable gardens, mud and snow football, infamous Thanksgivings entertaining Notre Dame students, the children of Bill’s college roommates, the chocolate fondue fiasco, broken arms, Schwinn banana seat bike races, dinner bells, snowball fights, tree houses, monkey bars, mom’s peanut butter and jelly brown bag lunches, little girls playing dress-up, late night driveway basketball tournaments, crab cracks on the brick patio, sleep outs on the screened-in back porch, large oak, maple, birch, quaking aspen, blue spruce, and the evergreens, neighborhood Christmas caroling, adoration of the nativity, reindeer heard on rooftops, and Santa coming to the door.

Ann loved being a member of the Irish Heritage Society and enjoyed sharing her Irish heritage ­– her maternal ancestral home being County Donegal and Slane, County Meath ­– through Irish music, especially with The Bogtrotters and Irish Seisiuns (jam sessions). Ann spent summers at the Warren Elks Club, where she was a founding member of the Deep Enders, the greatest swim moms ever. She spent years carpooling swim kids to swim events at the old Packard Pool, the Warren YWCA, and the Warren Elks Club.

Ann and Bill loved their yearly travels to Hawaii, the wildflowers of Crested Butte, Colorado, live stage performances, walks along the Carolina seashore, and their visits to their ancestral homeland Ireland. In retirement, they designed and cultivated an Irish fairy garden which provided much joy, laughter, and imagination.

Ann is survived by her children, Patrick (Cassidy), Bridget, Brian and Megan.

Ann was preceded in death by her beloved husband, attorney William P. McLain; her beloved mother and father, Kathryn and Robert Garmy; cousins, Richard and Harry Hagan; aunts and uncles, Mary Dougherty, Marge and Harry Hagan, Agnes and Bock Gray, Anna and George McKenna and Christopher and Anna Dougherty; and uncles, Dale, Don and James Garmy.

Her godmother was Anna McKenna, and she is survived by four godchildren.

In lieu of flowers, raise a glass in true Irish fashion and sing a song of Mary for our mother. Visitation will take place from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, with Mass to follow at 1:30 p.m. at Blessed Sacrament Church.

A private burial will follow in All Souls Cemetery.

(special notice)