Obituary for Ann Richmond

February 13, 1941 – July 31, 2024

Ann had a long and interesting life. She was born during World War II in a small village outside London, England. Like many pregnant Londoners her mother was moved out of the city due to the frequent night bombing raids known as “The Blitz”. Her father was serving in the Royal Army in Burma. Their home was bombed, and eventually so was the small apartment where they had been relocated. They lived in a tent for a while and later in a prefabricated concrete house for the duration of the war. When reconstruction was complete, they were returned to their home Borough of Kensington and into a brand-new building of flats. She lived there until she met her first husband, William (“Bill”) McKelvy, who was from Texas but was working in London at the time. They were married in London and spent their honeymoon traveling throughout Europe in Bill’s Austin Healy Sprite and camping in a tent.

The couple moved to Los Angeles from London, which is how Ann came to be in the United States. In California Ann gave birth to her only child, Langley, and Bill joined the Air Force. They lived in Mississippi, Michigan, and Massachusetts while in the Air Force but ultimately settled in Bill’s hometown of Houston, Texas. There Ann found work in the then booming oil industry. She joined the daughters of the British Empire and made many life-long friends through that organization. In 1967 she won the title of Miss Transportation during Houston’s Transportation Week and was introduced at home plate to a crowded Astrodome. Later that year, Ann and Bill amicably separated and divorced. Ann and Langley moved into a small apartment in Houston where Ann supported them on a secretary’s salary.

A few years later she met and married her second husband, Dan Cheek and eventually settled in Friendswood Texas. Dan and she traveled a lot, often flying to their destination in Dan’s Cessna – Mazatlán was a favorite spot. She obtained her American Citizenship and was proud to call herself a Texan. She and Dan had been married for ten years. After their divorce, she returned to England to live for a while and settled on the Isle of Wight to be near her sister Susie. However, after eight years she decided to return to Texas.

She returned and moved to LaGrange Texas to be near her best friend, Jean, who is also British. She found a job working as a financial planner and met her last husband, Jimmie D. Richmond, fondly known as JD. They moved to April Sound in Montgomery and eventually built their dream home on the golf course. The two traveled extensively, once spending nearly a month in Zimbabwe, Africa with Ann’s Uncle Alf’s family. They also loved to cruise and spent a lot of time at sea.

Ann was a voracious reader and belonged to the local book club in April Sound. She enjoyed movies and parties and playing monopoly with her grandchildren. She absolutely loved Galveston beach and spent many summers at a beach house rental, and always invited her whole family along. It was by far her favorite place in Texas. She even willed that her ashes are to be spread in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ann is survived by her son Langley McKelvy and his wife Dawn, granddaughter Mallory Hughes and her husband Marc, grandson Mark McKelvy and his wife Chrissy, great grandchildren Evelyn, Marc, William and Maverick, her sister Sue Henderson, niece Jane and her children, nephew Stuart and his children.

In lieu of flowers please donate to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, In Memory of Ann Richmond