There was a dramatic and painful gap in Ann Waldbaum’s early life. It was as if she spent the rest of her very long life working to prevent such gaps in the lives of others. Ann Waldbaum never saw her father until she was four years old. Her father had escaped the pogroms of Poland on the eve of WW II, not knowing that war would break out. He thought he would soon send for his pregnant wife. War did break out and each of Ann Waldman’s parents did not even know whether the other was alive for four years.
After the war, they reunited in Denver.
Ann Waldbaum was a wife, a mother, a volunteer, a nurturer of her extended family, a grandmother, a friend — and, for all that, so much more. She was a presence, a person of good judgment and of balance, a lover of life, a person who enjoyed boosting others. She had a smile for everyone; and of herself she made no big deal. She told the IJN in a profile in 1979 about her multifaceted volunteering: “If you do, you do. You can’t tell a person how to become involved — just do it.”
Involved, she was! With the HEA, with Mizrachi Women, with the Scouts, the PTA, the Hillel Foundation at CU. She was one of those people who enjoyed her extended family above all and, from that solid basis, became one of the people who make the community, and who make it work. Always ready to roll up her sleeves, she set an example by looking outward, beyond the boundaries of family, concerned about the welfare of others, while also tending to the family hearth. She personified: Balance. Values. Friendliness. Intelligence.
Ann Waldbuam, a Jewish community stalwart, gracious friend and role model, will be sorely missed.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
