Annette Gannon Online Tribute and Memorial Website

About Annette Gannon

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Marie Annette Dorey Gannon

Marie Annette Dorey was born on Sept. 9, 1920, in Augusta, Maine, and died on October 17, 2008, in West Covina, Calif. Although she grew up in New England, and often recalled her youthful adventures sledding, skiing and skating, she loved the sunshine and roses in Southern California, where she raised four children and gardened for 60 years.

Annette, as she became known, was the daughter of Delvina Schneider and Arthur Dorey, Sr., the second of their six children and the last to survive. In 1936, the family moved to Burlington, Vt., where Annette graduated from high school in 1939. In December 1941, she married her high school sweetheart and family neighbor, Richard Edward Paquette, in Las Vegas, Nev., where he was with the U.S. Army Air Corps and stationed at Nellis Air Force Base.

While with Capt. Paquette at his training base in Nevada, her eldest daughter, Patricia Ellen, was born in 1943. The Paquettes moved to Salina, Kans, and then Annette returned home to Burlington, as Dick was preparing to go overseas as part of the World War II effort. Her second child, Richard Allen, was born in September, 1944, in Burlington. In 1945, she received word that Capt. Paquette was a casualty of a bombing mission over Tokyo.

A few years later, the young widow married John James Gannon, a World War II veteran and brother of a family friend in Burlington. Soon after, the young family moved to Southern California to take advantage of postwar opportunities. They settled in the San Gabriel Valley, where two daughters were born: Kathleen Mary in 1947 and Maureen Martha in 1950.

As the family grew, they moved from Baldwin Park to Glendora and Azusa, where they were members of the parish of St. Frances of Rome Catholic Church and the children attended the Parish elementary school.

For many years the family made annual driving trips back to Vermont to see family and old friends. During many of those years they lived in Covina, Calif., where the house and gardens were among Annette’s lifetime favorites, and where her roses seemed to thrive.

In the early 1970s, Annette and John moved to Ontario, Calif., and she took a job at an interiors store, El Poco Candles, in the regional shopping mall, Montclair Plaza. She achieved success with her innate marketing and people skills, rising to manager, achieving record store sales and a devoted base of customers. She retired after several years, following a change in store ownership and marketing direction.

In late 2004, John and Annette moved to Summerville at Victorian Court in Ontario, where John passed away in 2005. Annette spent her last days at Citrus Valley Hospice in West Covina.

Annette is survived by her children, Patricia Paquette of Seattle, Wash., and Richard Paquette of Tucson, Ariz.; Kathleen Gannon in Bullhead City, Ariz., and Maureen Rick in Visalia, Calif.

She was grandmother to David, Bryan, Jacob and Matthew Rick of Visalia and Los Angeles, Calif.; John Patrick Gannon of Covina, Calif., and Colleen Patricia Gannon Frederick of Bullhead City, Ariz; Suzanne Paquette of Kirkland, Wash., and Anne Paquette Ortiz of Tucson, Ariz.

She is also survived by great-grandchildren, Jakob and Ryan Gannon; Joshua and Bryanna Rick; and Karissa Frederick.

A funeral Mass was said for Annette on Thursday, Oct. 23, at St. George’s Catholic Church in Ontario, followed by a graveside service at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, Calif.

Memories from her children

Throughout her life, Mom displayed the independent, vivacious personality of a redhead — even in her 80s, when her hair had turned to silver and she became a self-appointed “cheer” committee to other residents of Summerville at Victorian Court in Ontario.

As a young woman, Annette suffered profound hearing loss when the stapys bones in her ears were damaged. Nearly 20 years later, her hearing was restored by a noted German surgeon who traveled to Los Angeles for the operation. Free of the bulky hearing aid and headband, she immediately cut her hair short and wore it that way for the rest of her life.

However, during the early years in Southern California, four children and often as many dogs and cats made for a noisy household. Add in John’s passion for Saturday afternoon football games — and the entire family’s enthusiasm for college team fight songs — and it is no wonder that Mom often turned her hearing aid off and turned instead to a favorite book.

While she was an early fan of the “Horatio Hornblower” series, and of the “Mitford” series in her later years, her all-time favorite book, which she read again and again, was “Dr. Zhivago.”

She did become a fan of the Anaheim Angels team, and a prominent piece of wall art at Summerville was her baseball poster.

On Saturday nights, John and Annette played endless games of pinochle with their friends, and Mom remained close to John and “Baby” Wienn and Walter and Ethel.

Despite her large family and abundant Southern California produce, Mom was a reluctant cook who most often prepared familiar New England favorites such as “Salmon Wiggle” and “Creamed Chipped Beef.” Even with her relatively petite size, she could finish off four lobsters in a day, and up to the last months of her life, her favorite meal was always sea scallops. She harbored a lifelong distaste for mussels, since she and her sister and brothers had to harvest them from the wharves during the Depression years. Until the end, mussels were “food for poor people.”

Mom loved crossword puzzles, listening to Barbra Streisand, and eating cherry-filled chocolates. On birthdays, the children could choose their favorite birthday cakes. At the top of the list was yellow cake with either chocolate buttercream frosting or citrus buttercream frosting. And Mom’s apple pie and peanut butter fudge are still in our taste memories.

Also in our memories are countless camping trips to beautiful areas such as the Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree and Death Valley, where Mom let us run free to explore the way she had during her childhood in New England.

Mom came from a family of musicians, and when she wasn’t gardening or reading we could find her at the electric organ in the living room. Among her all-time favorite songs were “Over the Rainbow,” “Summertime,” and a lullabye, “Little Boy (Girl) You’re Crying. I Know Why You’re Blue.”

Throughout her life, Mom took tremendous joy in her gardens, which expanded from roses to vegetables by the time she lived in Ontario. When were in school, she also enjoyed making us home-baked cookies and pies still warm when we came home from school. She was devoted to her family and made home truly a place where everyone was welcome.