I know Anne was my only sister, but there is no doubt in my mind when I say that she was the best sister I could’ve ever hoped to have. I have always looked up to her, even when we were in the middle of a knock-down, drag-out sister fight that ended with time outs in the corner. When we were in high school, I used to sneak into her closet to borrow her clothes and when we were younger, I always wanted to try to play with her and her friends. At least, when I wasn’t trying to spy on them… I remember many family vacations that involved long car trips, where we would play slug bug and actually try to hurt each other, play the dot game or tic-tac-toe, draw ridiculous pictures of each other, make up even more ridiculous songs to annoy our parents and how she used to call me a camel because I could drink a whole liter of soda and still outlast her when it came to making bathroom stops. There were a lot of summer days when we would make lunch for each other (which consisted mostly of top ramen or spaghettios) and then eat while we watched The Streets of San Francisco starring Karl Malden. Then we’d run through the sprinklers, make scavenger hunts for each other with post-it notes, ride our bikes, rollerblade or go to the pool down the street. When I boycotted my junior prom, she made snacks for us and we watched Pretty in Pink together. She never judged me for decorating my room with odd things, wearing weird clothes or for any of my eclectic interests and was always supportive of whatever craziness I wanted to try next. And let’s face it, I’m kind of a wackadoo sometimes… When she went to UCLA, I realized how much a part of my life she was, and after visiting her in the dorms, I knew I wanted to go there, too. Maybe I never grew out of trying to play with her friends, because I even managed to weasel my way into her group of awesome friends in college. She took care of me when I was sick with food poisoning in the dorms, she knew just how to cheer me up when I was upset (usually with food…) or what to say to get me out of a funk and she always just knew when I needed to be left alone. She let me tag along whenever she was doing something fun and she was my best friend in the world. Her smile was contagious, especially when she thought she was doing something sneaky like when she bought a life-size cardboard cut-out of Golem from Lord of the Rings and would hide it down a dark hallway in the house or behind my bed and then just wait for me to shriek when I opened a door or saw it out of the corner of my eye. She meant so much to me and she will be missed more than words could ever describe. I love you, Annie.
Anne was my fiancee and my best friend. I can't describe how much I miss her and how I wish that this things would have turned out differently. It's hard to imagine not having her around.
It's hard to think of stories because I feel like we spent so much time together and did so many things that it all gets blurred together.
For some reason though this story just really sticks out in my head. I remember my company had a Christmas party one year and Anne came with me. Each guest got a bunch of tickets that would could use to play some casino games where you could win more tickets and then use them in a raffle at the end of the party. We spend a bit of time at the craps table and our dealer was pretty generous. He ignored some of bad roles and give use some extra rewards when we had good roles. It really made for a rowdy good time. Needless to say Anne wound up with a huge wad of tickets. Then she went around to schmooze some people who were not interested in the raffle to give her their tickets. She entered them into the raffle. Some of the prizes were pretty huge, I think there was a plane ticket to some nice destination, Disneyland tickets, an iPod, some massive gift certificates, etc. She took one ticket from her stack and entered it for each prize. Then she took all the rest of the tickets and put them into the raffle for the wine basket. She figured, there would be lots of competition for the large prizes, but no one was going to really go for the wine basket. Well, guess who won the wine basket! Everyone was watching her as she proudly carried this awesome wine basket back to our table. That thing was loaded! It had three great wines, a bunch of nice cheeses, various crackers and breads, and I think it even had some chocolates. Anyways it lasted us a few nights and were able to entertain a few times with it too.
Not sure why that story is so clear in my head. I think it was just surprising and funny, and shows just how creative and smart she really was. I mean I would have never thought of doing that. On top of that it we had a lot of fun with it and were able to share with it with other people, and that's really what Anne was all about.
Anne and I met during our freshman year of college at UCLA where we lived on the same floor in the dorms. We've been the greatest of friends ever since then, and I'm so fortunate for all the times we've shared together. Because we've been friends for the past 10+ years, when I think of Anne, a million memories come flooding back to me and it's hard to pick just one or two to talk about here.
I think of laughter and how she was always able to make me laugh until my stomach hurt. How she tolerated me and my love of slapstick-y moments in life and in movies. Years ago, we were watching My Cousin Vinny, and I literally made her re-watch that one scene of Joe Pesci falling in the mud over and over and over again...while most people would cut me off after 2 times, she humored as I replayed the scene about 5-6 times, cracking up each time.
I think of all the food we shared together as we crossed LA restaurants off our to-try list, savored nutella-and-banana-filled crepes in Paris, doused our gallo pinto with the famous Costa Rican green sauce, and stuffed ourselves silly during a chocolate and cheese tour of Seattle. We also had fun cooking adventures too, taking an Indian cooking class together or trying to make red bean mochi snacks (those didn't turn out so well...).
I think of the beach and SCUBA diving and how she inspired me to get certified as well. On one of our dives together, we were in Monterey and my weight belt dropped to the bottom of the ocean floor and we had to cut our dive short (she didn't really mind).
I think of yoga and swimming and running together. How when we lived together in West LA, she was so diligent about going to Norm's class at Santa Monica Power Yoga every Monday night. How she was always up for whatever 10k or race I wanted to run next, and how she was always finished these runs way ahead of me and waited for me at the finish lines. How we had a great time running Bay to Breakers, but then had a miserable time after the race as we quickly realized neither of us were prepared for how cold San Francisco can be, especially when you're cooling down after a long run wearing shorts and a t-shirt with no warm clothes to put on, no phone, no money and no way to contact Karen (with whom we had separated from).
I think of traveling and our summer in Spain and France. How in college, you could always hear her around the apartment saying "Yo quiero aprender espanol" (translation: I want to learn Spanish) and how she finally started taking Spanish classes at UCLA. She further honed her Spanish language skills during the summer before senior year of college when we, along with another roomie of ours, went to Spain. Ah, we had such a great time taking flamenco dance lessons, trying Manzanilla for the first time (none of us were fans), and having picnics with yummy bread and cheese. We ended that Europe trip in France, and since she was the only one who spoke French, we had to rely on her to help us get around and order food for us.
I think of Karen and her parents and the amazing family that they have. All that love, support, kindness and humor in a family is so rare and beautiful.
I think of Ralf and their love for each other. I remember one of the first times I met Ralf was during our freshman year of college. It was right around her birthday, and I was in the laundry room (her room was right aross from that). Here comes this guy I'd never met before, holding a bouquet of orange flowers for her (he already figured out her love of orange!), and he saw me and asked, "Do you know which room is Anne's?" I replied, "Why, yes, I do" and pointed it out to him, but I was thinking to myself, "Well, who are you?!" I'm so glad that Anne has had such an amazing friend, boyfriend and fiance in Ralf.
Sorry this has been a bit ramble-y and long, but like I said earlier, I have a million memories swarming around in my head. Annie, I love you and will miss you always. xoxo, Carrie
Although this world lost an angel, heaven gained one...I never met Anne, but if she was anything like her mother and sister, then I wish I had the opportunity to meet such a wonderful person. God bless you all.
I may be a little out of place here since I haven't seen or spoken to Anne for many years, but everything I knew of her is well justified in every posting here as well as in the fantastic biography on her memorial page. I went to school with Anne starting at Woodside Elementary through Ygnacio Valley High. We shared many classes and teachers through the years of school and I was ALWAYS impressed with her work ethic and intelligence. To share a random memory, I remember going to a birthday party of hers when we were very young at the Schneemann house and nearly scraped my kneecap off while goofing around on their porch. I remember it being very painful and although she was busy having fun with all the other kids, she took the time to check on me and see if I was alright and didn't go back to celebrating until I was patched up and feeling better. Not many kids that age would have even given it a second thought at their own birthday party, but that was Anne, at any age. That is the girl I remember. All the time in school with Anne only revealed more of her compassion, kindness to others and love of life in general. Even in the times of awkward middle-school and sometimes difficult high-school that we all go through, she was always so true to her character and a geniune friend. When I think back to the people I have had friendships and experiences with, she definitely makes the short list of folks who I always knew would be happy, successful and make a difference in the world around her for the better. I guess I am trying to say that even this guy who knew her from childhood and didn't get to stay in touch after high school still remembers the great person Anne was and how much of a positive impact she made on me long ago. Thank you for creating this great memorial to share memories and honor Anne for the fantastic person she has been. I am so happy, but not surprised, to see that she never stopped impressing everyone around her on a daily basis. I hope this can illustrate how much she will be remembered by everyone who knew her, even those of us who had a different path in life, and that we all have the same wonderful memory of Anne Schneemann. Trevor Irish
Here is a story about how I was finally able to win Anne over. Anne was a very independent and free spirited person, and it took quite some effort for me to woo her over. I remember when I first met her. We were in a philosophy class at UCLA and we happened to be in the same discussion group. The Ta's name was Yoichi. And I remember him talking about Thales. “Thales was a philosopher. He believed that everything was made of water” he would say in his extremely broken English. There was this other student, who showed up for maybe one class. This guy got so mad a Yoichi because I think he had a hard time separating early philosophical thought from reality. This guy became irate at the theory that everything was made of water and spend a good portion of the discussion arguing with Yoichi about Thales' theory.
“How can you tell me that everything is made of water? So you have fire... and you are telling me that this fire is made of water? How can you prove that? I mean come on... its fire. And your telling me its made of water?!”
Yoichi would respond very calmly, “Yes, Thales believed this”.
“This is ridiculous.” And the dude left the class never to be seen again.
During this argument Anne and I would glance at each other thinking... whats wrong with this guy? She did her classic rolling of the eyes that would make even the toughest hard-headed person rethink what they were saying.
We would have study session with a few other people and it was there that I found out her love for Pearl Jam. I don't remember how it came up but somehow it did and I asked her if she liked Pearl Jam. Her response was classic Anne. She didn't say yes, instead she held her hands up in the air locked together like the cover of the 10 album. I think it was at that moment that I realized that this was the girl for me.
For the next few months I attempted to peruse her. I would find myself hanging out in the spots where I new she would be or eventually show up. I would walk around campus in between classes trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of her waiting for her next class. We talked and with each day I fell more and more in love with her. I was her presence, her wit, and her genuine interest in things I had to say.
We talked though that messenger thing that was popular in college, I forget what it was called, but it would make an “Oh oh” sound every time someone messaged you. I remember I was telling her a story about how I was in the laundry room getting ready to use the washer and this guy was pulling his cloths out. One of his socks hit the floor with a loud smack. I said to him “Kinda takes the point out of washing it huh?” His response was simply “No.” I thought that was rude and lame. So I told her this story, and her response was classic. “You should have then stepped on his sock and said 'how about now'?” Classic Anne wit.
Anyways, to make an extremely long story short, we hung out here and there and things didn't really pan out. Until one day, a year or so later (yes a year) she invited me out to look at the stars. Apparently one of her professors invited his class to the Mojave desert where he set up a high powered telescope to look at and talk about the stars. It was an interesting yet weird time. I think we were the only students who showed up. In the background he had what he called “Space Music”. Some of this music was pretty lame, but there was one album that kinda blew my mind. It was spacey shred guitar. I was so into it. Anne eventually went back to the professor to ask him what album that was and he said it was called the “Secrete Garden”, which she to me brought to me one day as a gift. It was definitely not the “Secrete Garden” that we were listening to, I don't know what he was thinking when he told her that name. But it was still cool that she took the time and effort to get me this CD.
Continued from previous post (too many characters)
Anne was always very supportive of my guitar antics. She would go to all my shows, and she even went with me to a Joe Satriani concert. She didn't really like Joe Satriani's music. But she thought it was great that this was the one concert she ever went to where the woman's bathroom did not have a line, while the men's bathroom was quite long. Though I think Joe was way more tolerable to her than Steve Vai. It's not that she hated the music, but she always called it “extreme elevator music” and would shake her head every time I watched my Vai DVD. To her Steve Vai was ridiculous. I think it was the fan always blowing his hair around and the lasers on his finger tips. This is where we came up with the distinction between a male and female definition of the word ridiculous. A fan blowing one's hair around with freaking lasers shooting on one's finger tips is definitely ridiculous. But to a male, this word is equal to something over the top that is kinda cool. To a female this same word means is over the top and but it's not cool. So we genderized (a word?) the word to know what we were talking about. If something was rediculos it was cool, if it was rediculas it was definitely not cool. You may disagree, but we though we were geniuses for coming up with this.
Anyways, back to the stars, we finally got back to my apartment at 4 in the morning and both of us were quite hungry. So I made her some fajitas. If I would have known that the way to Anne's heart was through her stomach I would have busted out the fajitas a long time ago. It was those fajitas that finally won her over and started us down the path of becoming foodies. Food was definitely something we connected on, and we would always cook together and enjoy great food at restaurants. Anne tried a few times to become vegetarian and I think once even vegan. But, I dispelled that really quick with various chicken, tri-tip, and other meaty recipes. Once recipe she looked forward too after a hard day of work was steak on a bed of greens. Sometimes when we both had a hard day, we would head over to Jersey's for the Jersey special Mark style (add bell pepper) and a few beers.
Anne never gave up on anyone or anything. When I took us on the wrong trail on a hike, she stuck with it, and even caught a picture of me studying a map with a lost look on my face. As a GIS nerd, and self-proclaimed map girl, this doesn't happen too often. My instincts led us close enough to the peak to climb one of the steepest faces I have ever climbed. While Ralf and Anne forged ahead, and Emerson the dog ran circles around us all, I slowly brought up the rear. But I didn't give up, and when I got to the top, Anne was beaming and proud as Ralf examined the Geocache. On the return descent, we found the right trail and it turned out to be a wonderful view of Big Bear Lake. She assured me that the hike was indeed a success and we planned to come back and hike it again, the right way. When Anne called to invite me over to sew with her and Abby, she had a project in mind: a sewing/knitting bag pattern from her knitting magazine. Anne was a crazy awesome knitter, but hadn't delved into the sewing realm so much. I thought myself to be an advanced sewer, but when the projects were finished, I had attached the handles on my bag incorrectly, but she had done hers just right. Such good attention to detail. One sewing project Anne tried was a dress. The instructions said Easy, but we both agreed it was not so easy. I'm pretty sure she restarted that one three times. Finally, I convinced her to try something a little easier: a cloth grocery bag. She mastered it. Then, we made a Yoga mat bag... I think she ended up making three! I'll miss sewing nights and hiking with Anne, enjoying food and sampling some wine. She always brought more joy to everything we did!
I was a co-worker of Anne's at LLUMC. Although She worked days and I worked nights, still we found a few moments here and there to laugh together. I am going to miss her smile and infectious laughter. She and I used to joke around about each other's interesting last names. We have lost a wonderful co-worker, friend, and loved one.
Everybody seemed really nervous during nursing orientation, except for Anne, which was evident in her beaming smile. "Hi Aaron, my name's Anne, I heard u wanted to be a emergency room nurse." I didnt pay attention to our nursing class individual introductions, but Anne definitely did. I remember this moment because she was the first person in orientation to befriend me in an instant. Anne is a natural at befriending anyone, and if we treated each other the way she treated an intimidating brute of a stranger like myself, the world would be a perfect place. I can be too outrageous and over bearing when I get going, and when most would dismiss me, Anne would always laugh and smile. We carpooled before the sun would rise to our nursing clinicals, and even in the wee hours of morning she was always cheerful, giving our three person car pool the energy to pull through for the day. She is definitely one of the most genuinely kindhearted persons I have ever met, and I will be forever grateful of having known her. She will be missed by many in LLU School of Nursing.
Isn't her smile the greatest?!?!?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHA I will see you again my friend!
I knew Anne when we were children. Anne was funny, creative, wise, and I wanted to grow to be just like her. Unfortunately we drifted apart. When ever I thought about Anne I imagined her doing wonderful things. When I think of my childhood Anne is always a bright happy memory I was truly lucky to have called her my friend.
I miss you so much. I know we divided our friends in to groups, scared of your best friends stealing me, but we loved all of them. Heptocellar adenoma if it isn't known. I'm so sorry to everyone, I should of spoken up. Karen, your sister was so proud and envious of you.
I don't know what possessed me to look you up, but here's your memorial page. We went to the Train Station preschool together, and though we were only five years old, I was completely in love with you - and heartbroken when I learned we'd be going to different elementary schools. We played together so much that the adults called us sweethearts. It was such a long time ago, but I can even vaguely remember going to your (fifth?) birthday party. You were beautiful, smart, confident - such an adult! I felt, when I was talking to you, that you had a preternatural understanding of the world outside of our little kindergarten. Knowing that you were out there somewhere felt good... and finding this... it's my fault for looking... just breaks my heart all over again.
I miss you so much and I think about you all the time. You were one of my few truly good friends. Months or years could past by without us talking, but as soon as we'd connect it was like we were never apart. You knew me so well and all my darkest secrets and thoughts. I now understand why you kept me out of the loop...there's no way I could have handled it- I would have been such a mess begging you to please stay. I still can't handle your being gone. I can't take you out of my phone and I still e-mail you. I love you so much and can't wait to see you again someday...I know, "Oh Noon". I love and miss you so much Annie.
Today I learned of Anne's passing. I went to high school with her, and we were in many classes together. While we were not close friends, I always remember her infectious smile and wit. I have thought about her many times over the years, several times attempting to google her, but somehow never finding any information. The world lost a great soul.
I know Anne was my only sister, but there is no doubt in my mind when I say that she was the best sister I could’ve ever hoped to have.
ReplyDeleteI have always looked up to her, even when we were in the middle of a knock-down, drag-out sister fight that ended with time outs in the corner.
When we were in high school, I used to sneak into her closet to borrow her clothes and when we were younger, I always wanted to try to play with her and her friends. At least, when I wasn’t trying to spy on them…
I remember many family vacations that involved long car trips, where we would play slug bug and actually try to hurt each other, play the dot game or tic-tac-toe, draw ridiculous pictures of each other, make up even more ridiculous songs to annoy our parents and how she used to call me a camel because I could drink a whole liter of soda and still outlast her when it came to making bathroom stops.
There were a lot of summer days when we would make lunch for each other (which consisted mostly of top ramen or spaghettios) and then eat while we watched The Streets of San Francisco starring Karl Malden. Then we’d run through the sprinklers, make scavenger hunts for each other with post-it notes, ride our bikes, rollerblade or go to the pool down the street.
When I boycotted my junior prom, she made snacks for us and we watched Pretty in Pink together.
She never judged me for decorating my room with odd things, wearing weird clothes or for any of my eclectic interests and was always supportive of whatever craziness I wanted to try next. And let’s face it, I’m kind of a wackadoo sometimes…
When she went to UCLA, I realized how much a part of my life she was, and after visiting her in the dorms, I knew I wanted to go there, too. Maybe I never grew out of trying to play with her friends, because I even managed to weasel my way into her group of awesome friends in college.
She took care of me when I was sick with food poisoning in the dorms, she knew just how to cheer me up when I was upset (usually with food…) or what to say to get me out of a funk and she always just knew when I needed to be left alone. She let me tag along whenever she was doing something fun and she was my best friend in the world. Her smile was contagious, especially when she thought she was doing something sneaky like when she bought a life-size cardboard cut-out of Golem from Lord of the Rings and would hide it down a dark hallway in the house or behind my bed and then just wait for me to shriek when I opened a door or saw it out of the corner of my eye.
She meant so much to me and she will be missed more than words could ever describe.
I love you, Annie.
Anne was my fiancee and my best friend. I can't describe how much I miss her and how I wish that this things would have turned out differently. It's hard to imagine not having her around.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to think of stories because I feel like we spent so much time together and did so many things that it all gets blurred together.
For some reason though this story just really sticks out in my head. I remember my company had a Christmas party one year and Anne came with me. Each guest got a bunch of tickets that would could use to play some casino games where you could win more tickets and then use them in a raffle at the end of the party. We spend a bit of time at the craps table and our dealer was pretty generous. He ignored some of bad roles and give use some extra rewards when we had good roles. It really made for a rowdy good time. Needless to say Anne wound up with a huge wad of tickets. Then she went around to schmooze some people who were not interested in the raffle to give her their tickets. She entered them into the raffle. Some of the prizes were pretty huge, I think there was a plane ticket to some nice destination, Disneyland tickets, an iPod, some massive gift certificates, etc. She took one ticket from her stack and entered it for each prize. Then she took all the rest of the tickets and put them into the raffle for the wine basket. She figured, there would be lots of competition for the large prizes, but no one was going to really go for the wine basket. Well, guess who won the wine basket! Everyone was watching her as she proudly carried this awesome wine basket back to our table. That thing was loaded! It had three great wines, a bunch of nice cheeses, various crackers and breads, and I think it even had some chocolates. Anyways it lasted us a few nights and were able to entertain a few times with it too.
Not sure why that story is so clear in my head. I think it was just surprising and funny, and shows just how creative and smart she really was. I mean I would have never thought of doing that. On top of that it we had a lot of fun with it and were able to share with it with other people, and that's really what Anne was all about.
Anne and I met during our freshman year of college at UCLA where we lived on the same floor in the dorms. We've been the greatest of friends ever since then, and I'm so fortunate for all the times we've shared together. Because we've been friends for the past 10+ years, when I think of Anne, a million memories come flooding back to me and it's hard to pick just one or two to talk about here.
ReplyDeleteI think of laughter and how she was always able to make me laugh until my stomach hurt. How she tolerated me and my love of slapstick-y moments in life and in movies. Years ago, we were watching My Cousin Vinny, and I literally made her re-watch that one scene of Joe Pesci falling in the mud over and over and over again...while most people would cut me off after 2 times, she humored as I replayed the scene about 5-6 times, cracking up each time.
I think of all the food we shared together as we crossed LA restaurants off our to-try list, savored nutella-and-banana-filled crepes in Paris, doused our gallo pinto with the famous Costa Rican green sauce, and stuffed ourselves silly during a chocolate and cheese tour of Seattle. We also had fun cooking adventures too, taking an Indian cooking class together or trying to make red bean mochi snacks (those didn't turn out so well...).
I think of the beach and SCUBA diving and how she inspired me to get certified as well. On one of our dives together, we were in Monterey and my weight belt dropped to the bottom of the ocean floor and we had to cut our dive short (she didn't really mind).
I think of yoga and swimming and running together. How when we lived together in West LA, she was so diligent about going to Norm's class at Santa Monica Power Yoga every Monday night. How she was always up for whatever 10k or race I wanted to run next, and how she was always finished these runs way ahead of me and waited for me at the finish lines. How we had a great time running Bay to Breakers, but then had a miserable time after the race as we quickly realized neither of us were prepared for how cold San Francisco can be, especially when you're cooling down after a long run wearing shorts and a t-shirt with no warm clothes to put on, no phone, no money and no way to contact Karen (with whom we had separated from).
I think of traveling and our summer in Spain and France. How in college, you could always hear her around the apartment saying "Yo quiero aprender espanol" (translation: I want to learn Spanish) and how she finally started taking Spanish classes at UCLA. She further honed her Spanish language skills during the summer before senior year of college when we, along with another roomie of ours, went to Spain. Ah, we had such a great time taking flamenco dance lessons, trying Manzanilla for the first time (none of us were fans), and having picnics with yummy bread and cheese. We ended that Europe trip in France, and since she was the only one who spoke French, we had to rely on her to help us get around and order food for us.
I think of Karen and her parents and the amazing family that they have. All that love, support, kindness and humor in a family is so rare and beautiful.
I think of Ralf and their love for each other. I remember one of the first times I met Ralf was during our freshman year of college. It was right around her birthday, and I was in the laundry room (her room was right aross from that). Here comes this guy I'd never met before, holding a bouquet of orange flowers for her (he already figured out her love of orange!), and he saw me and asked, "Do you know which room is Anne's?" I replied, "Why, yes, I do" and pointed it out to him, but I was thinking to myself, "Well, who are you?!" I'm so glad that Anne has had such an amazing friend, boyfriend and fiance in Ralf.
Sorry this has been a bit ramble-y and long, but like I said earlier, I have a million memories swarming around in my head. Annie, I love you and will miss you always. xoxo, Carrie
Although this world lost an angel, heaven gained one...I never met Anne, but if she was anything like her mother and sister, then I wish I had the opportunity to meet such a wonderful person. God bless you all.
ReplyDeleteI may be a little out of place here since I haven't seen or spoken to Anne for many years, but everything I knew of her is well justified in every posting here as well as in the fantastic biography on her memorial page. I went to school with Anne starting at Woodside Elementary through Ygnacio Valley High. We shared many classes and teachers through the years of school and I was ALWAYS impressed with her work ethic and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteTo share a random memory, I remember going to a birthday party of hers when we were very young at the Schneemann house and nearly scraped my kneecap off while goofing around on their porch. I remember it being very painful and although she was busy having fun with all the other kids, she took the time to check on me and see if I was alright and didn't go back to celebrating until I was patched up and feeling better. Not many kids that age would have even given it a second thought at their own birthday party, but that was Anne, at any age. That is the girl I remember.
All the time in school with Anne only revealed more of her compassion, kindness to others and love of life in general. Even in the times of awkward middle-school and sometimes difficult high-school that we all go through, she was always so true to her character and a geniune friend.
When I think back to the people I have had friendships and experiences with, she definitely makes the short list of folks who I always knew would be happy, successful and make a difference in the world around her for the better.
I guess I am trying to say that even this guy who knew her from childhood and didn't get to stay in touch after high school still remembers the great person Anne was and how much of a positive impact she made on me long ago.
Thank you for creating this great memorial to share memories and honor Anne for the fantastic person she has been. I am so happy, but not surprised, to see that she never stopped impressing everyone around her on a daily basis. I hope this can illustrate how much she will be remembered by everyone who knew her, even those of us who had a different path in life, and that we all have the same wonderful memory of Anne Schneemann.
Trevor Irish
Here is a story about how I was finally able to win Anne over. Anne was a very independent and free spirited person, and it took quite some effort for me to woo her over. I remember when I first met her. We were in a philosophy class at UCLA and we happened to be in the same discussion group. The Ta's name was Yoichi. And I remember him talking about Thales. “Thales was a philosopher. He believed that everything was made of water” he would say in his extremely broken English. There was this other student, who showed up for maybe one class. This guy got so mad a Yoichi because I think he had a hard time separating early philosophical thought from reality. This guy became irate at the theory that everything was made of water and spend a good portion of the discussion arguing with Yoichi about Thales' theory.
ReplyDelete“How can you tell me that everything is made of water? So you have fire... and you are telling me that this fire is made of water? How can you prove that? I mean come on... its fire. And your telling me its made of water?!”
Yoichi would respond very calmly, “Yes, Thales believed this”.
“This is ridiculous.” And the dude left the class never to be seen again.
During this argument Anne and I would glance at each other thinking... whats wrong with this guy? She did her classic rolling of the eyes that would make even the toughest hard-headed person rethink what they were saying.
We would have study session with a few other people and it was there that I found out her love for Pearl Jam. I don't remember how it came up but somehow it did and I asked her if she liked Pearl Jam. Her response was classic Anne. She didn't say yes, instead she held her hands up in the air locked together like the cover of the 10 album. I think it was at that moment that I realized that this was the girl for me.
For the next few months I attempted to peruse her. I would find myself hanging out in the spots where I new she would be or eventually show up. I would walk around campus in between classes trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of her waiting for her next class. We talked and with each day I fell more and more in love with her. I was her presence, her wit, and her genuine interest in things I had to say.
We talked though that messenger thing that was popular in college, I forget what it was called, but it would make an “Oh oh” sound every time someone messaged you. I remember I was telling her a story about how I was in the laundry room getting ready to use the washer and this guy was pulling his cloths out. One of his socks hit the floor with a loud smack. I said to him “Kinda takes the point out of washing it huh?” His response was simply “No.” I thought that was rude and lame. So I told her this story, and her response was classic. “You should have then stepped on his sock and said 'how about now'?” Classic Anne wit.
Anyways, to make an extremely long story short, we hung out here and there and things didn't really pan out. Until one day, a year or so later (yes a year) she invited me out to look at the stars. Apparently one of her professors invited his class to the Mojave desert where he set up a high powered telescope to look at and talk about the stars. It was an interesting yet weird time. I think we were the only students who showed up. In the background he had what he called “Space Music”. Some of this music was pretty lame, but there was one album that kinda blew my mind. It was spacey shred guitar. I was so into it. Anne eventually went back to the professor to ask him what album that was and he said it was called the “Secrete Garden”, which she to me brought to me one day as a gift. It was definitely not the “Secrete Garden” that we were listening to, I don't know what he was thinking when he told her that name. But it was still cool that she took the time and effort to get me this CD.
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ReplyDeleteAnne was always very supportive of my guitar antics. She would go to all my shows, and she even went with me to a Joe Satriani concert. She didn't really like Joe Satriani's music. But she thought it was great that this was the one concert she ever went to where the woman's bathroom did not have a line, while the men's bathroom was quite long. Though I think Joe was way more tolerable to her than Steve Vai. It's not that she hated the music, but she always called it “extreme elevator music” and would shake her head every time I watched my Vai DVD. To her Steve Vai was ridiculous. I think it was the fan always blowing his hair around and the lasers on his finger tips. This is where we came up with the distinction between a male and female definition of the word ridiculous. A fan blowing one's hair around with freaking lasers shooting on one's finger tips is definitely ridiculous. But to a male, this word is equal to something over the top that is kinda cool. To a female this same word means is over the top and but it's not cool. So we genderized (a word?) the word to know what we were talking about. If something was rediculos it was cool, if it was rediculas it was definitely not cool. You may disagree, but we though we were geniuses for coming up with this.
Anyways, back to the stars, we finally got back to my apartment at 4 in the morning and both of us were quite hungry. So I made her some fajitas. If I would have known that the way to Anne's heart was through her stomach I would have busted out the fajitas a long time ago. It was those fajitas that finally won her over and started us down the path of becoming foodies. Food was definitely something we connected on, and we would always cook together and enjoy great food at restaurants. Anne tried a few times to become vegetarian and I think once even vegan. But, I dispelled that really quick with various chicken, tri-tip, and other meaty recipes. Once recipe she looked forward too after a hard day of work was steak on a bed of greens. Sometimes when we both had a hard day, we would head over to Jersey's for the Jersey special Mark style (add bell pepper) and a few beers.
I really miss that girl. She was the best.
She liked this book...http://www.amazon.com/French-Cats-Your-Will-Ever/dp/067940676X
ReplyDeleteAnne never gave up on anyone or anything. When I took us on the wrong trail on a hike, she stuck with it, and even caught a picture of me studying a map with a lost look on my face. As a GIS nerd, and self-proclaimed map girl, this doesn't happen too often. My instincts led us close enough to the peak to climb one of the steepest faces I have ever climbed. While Ralf and Anne forged ahead, and Emerson the dog ran circles around us all, I slowly brought up the rear. But I didn't give up, and when I got to the top, Anne was beaming and proud as Ralf examined the Geocache. On the return descent, we found the right trail and it turned out to be a wonderful view of Big Bear Lake. She assured me that the hike was indeed a success and we planned to come back and hike it again, the right way.
ReplyDeleteWhen Anne called to invite me over to sew with her and Abby, she had a project in mind: a sewing/knitting bag pattern from her knitting magazine. Anne was a crazy awesome knitter, but hadn't delved into the sewing realm so much. I thought myself to be an advanced sewer, but when the projects were finished, I had attached the handles on my bag incorrectly, but she had done hers just right. Such good attention to detail.
One sewing project Anne tried was a dress. The instructions said Easy, but we both agreed it was not so easy. I'm pretty sure she restarted that one three times. Finally, I convinced her to try something a little easier: a cloth grocery bag. She mastered it. Then, we made a Yoga mat bag... I think she ended up making three!
I'll miss sewing nights and hiking with Anne, enjoying food and sampling some wine. She always brought more joy to everything we did!
I was a co-worker of Anne's at LLUMC. Although She worked days and I worked nights, still we found a few moments here and there to laugh together. I am going to miss her smile and infectious laughter. She and I used to joke around about each other's interesting last names.
ReplyDeleteWe have lost a wonderful co-worker, friend, and loved one.
Everybody seemed really nervous during nursing orientation, except for Anne, which was evident in her beaming smile. "Hi Aaron, my name's Anne, I heard u wanted to be a emergency room nurse." I didnt pay attention to our nursing class individual introductions, but Anne definitely did. I remember this moment because she was the first person in orientation to befriend me in an instant. Anne is a natural at befriending anyone, and if we treated each other the way she treated an intimidating brute of a stranger like myself, the world would be a perfect place. I can be too outrageous and over bearing when I get going, and when most would dismiss me, Anne would always laugh and smile. We carpooled before the sun would rise to our nursing clinicals, and even in the wee hours of morning she was always cheerful, giving our three person car pool the energy to pull through for the day. She is definitely one of the most genuinely kindhearted persons I have ever met, and I will be forever grateful of having known her. She will be missed by many in LLU School of Nursing.
ReplyDeleteIsn't her smile the greatest?!?!?!?!?! HAHAHAHAHA I will see you again my friend!
I knew Anne when we were children. Anne was funny, creative, wise, and I wanted to grow to be just like her. Unfortunately we drifted apart. When ever I thought about Anne I imagined her doing wonderful things.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of my childhood Anne is always a bright happy memory I was truly lucky to have called her my friend.
I miss you so much. I know we divided our friends in to groups, scared of your best friends stealing me, but we loved all of them. Heptocellar adenoma if it isn't known. I'm so sorry to everyone, I should of spoken up. Karen, your sister was so proud and envious of you.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what possessed me to look you up, but here's your memorial page. We went to the Train Station preschool together, and though we were only five years old, I was completely in love with you - and heartbroken when I learned we'd be going to different elementary schools. We played together so much that the adults called us sweethearts. It was such a long time ago, but I can even vaguely remember going to your (fifth?) birthday party. You were beautiful, smart, confident - such an adult! I felt, when I was talking to you, that you had a preternatural understanding of the world outside of our little kindergarten. Knowing that you were out there somewhere felt good... and finding this... it's my fault for looking... just breaks my heart all over again.
ReplyDelete- Jason
I miss you so much and I think about you all the time. You were one of my few truly good friends. Months or years could past by without us talking, but as soon as we'd connect it was like we were never apart. You knew me so well and all my darkest secrets and thoughts. I now understand why you kept me out of the loop...there's no way I could have handled it- I would have been such a mess begging you to please stay. I still can't handle your being gone. I can't take you out of my phone and I still e-mail you. I love you so much and can't wait to see you again someday...I know, "Oh Noon". I love and miss you so much Annie.
ReplyDeleteToday I learned of Anne's passing. I went to high school with her, and we were in many classes together. While we were not close friends, I always remember her infectious smile and wit. I have thought about her many times over the years, several times attempting to google her, but somehow never finding any information. The world lost a great soul.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Anne! We miss your kind funny ways.
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