Obituary of Ann Louise Leamer

Ann Louise Leamer, of Redmond, Washington, passed away on December 26, 2023.

Ann was born in Vermillion, South Dakota to Vincent and Lois Montgomery on December 27, 1943. She grew up with her (very) identical twin sister Sue Wolken and younger brother Dave Montgomery. After graduating from Vermillion High School in 1962, she attended the University of Iowa, graduating with a degree in Mathematics, where she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, and a drummer in the all-female drum and bagpipe corps, The Scottish Highlanders. While she largely retired from her drumming career after college, she remained a devoted Hawkeyes fan for the rest of her life.

While still in university, she met Jerry Leamer from South Sioux City Nebraska on a blind date. The two would marry on December 26, 1965 and spend the next 58 years together, a journey that took them from New Jersey, to California, Washington, Indiana, Colorado then finally back to Redmond, Washington in 1987. This was their third and final move to the Northwest (which Ann truly loved) where they would remain for the next 36 years. Along the way they had two sons, Tony and Lance Leamer, born in 1967 and 1970.

In addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Ann also enjoyed a long career in operations and logistics management, including long stints at Genie Industries, Data I/O and Metawave, before retiring in 2001.

Ann deplored hot weather, spicy foods and wearing shoes. She loved sewing (mostly quilting), playing cards and other games with friends, and her family, perhaps mostly her grandchildren Derek, Kelsey and Olivia. She spent as much time with them as possible, creating lasting memories for each with ice skating adventures, living room concerts, and “Grandma’s Weekends” every holiday season. These featured botanical garden visits, movie nights and shopping trips to buy and donate Toys for Tots. She treasured every moment with the grandchildren and will be deeply missed by all of them.

In 2011, Ann suffered a near-fatal heart attack while on a walk, which left her without a pulse for eight minutes and which she survived through the kindness and competence of a family that happened to pass by, provide CPR and contact the amazing Medic One, an organization to which both she and her family were (and remain) eternally grateful and supportive.

Ann is survived and will be deeply missed by her husband Jerry, her sister Sue Wolken (Steve) and brother Dave Montgomery, her sons Tony Leamer (Sue) and Lance Leamer (Suzanne), and her beloved grandchildren Derek Leamer, Kelsey Leamer and Olivia Leamer.

Services will be held at St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Bellevue, WA on Feb 10th at 3:00pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to either Toys for Tots or Medic One, important organizations that Ann felt strongly about.