Ann Eagleburger (Burnett) of Mesa, Arizona, was born on March 26, 1942 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She spent her childhood years in Waldron, Arkansas. She later moved to Escondido, California where she attended Escondido High School and was voted Homecoming Queen. She attended the College of North Texas University and the Northern Arizona University (then Arizona State Teachers College) where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta and voted Snow Queen of Sigma Chi. There she met her husband David Gammon Eagleburger. Ann and Dave were married for over 50 years until his passing on December 27, 2018.
Ann taught Kindergarten at Mesa Public Schools for 25 years until she retired to take care of her mother. She was a member of Mahnah Club and PEO as well as many other local organizations. Ann was a loved and cherished daughter, wife, mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother.
She is survived by sons, Matthew and his wife, Megan and their two sons, Jack and Craig, Casey and his wife, Nicolle and their two sons, Buck and Mack. She was preceded in death by her mother, Margaret Henderson, step-father Leming Henderson, father James (JL) Burnett, step-mother, Dorothy (Dot) Burnett, brother Hugh David Burnett, husband, David Eagleburger and her beloved dogs, Frank, Fred, Bob, Lulu, and Gracie.
Ann adored her friends and family, and was available for anyone that needed to talk. We are all going to miss her smile, encouraging words, and optimism. She wanted everyone to know that she led a full life and cherished her time with all of you. She is on the other side enjoying laughter, her dogs, lunch with friends, being with her Arkansas and Texas family, and dancing with Dave.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Hospice of the Valley at 1510 E. Flower Street, Building #2, Phoenix, AZ 85014. An open house will be held in her honor from 4pm to 8pm on Saturday, June 19, 2021. Please contact the family for the location.
Anne’s husband David and my husband grew up together. Anne’s radiance lit up a room, she put everyone else’s feelings before her own.
Mrs. Skip Raupp
Ann and I were close friends from sixth grade thru high school in Escondido, CA. Ann was a good student, active in all school activities, and was a loving daughter to her mother, Margaret Henderson. Her family was her most important love.
Ann was truly one of the most special people I’ve ever known. She was smart, beautiful inside & out & kind to everyone she met.
She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
My years teaching at Robson are a treasure trove of great memories. Ann not only was a fun colleague, but was a Kindergarten teacher to one of my children. Alway upbeat and full of joy making every room she entered light up. Always gentle, generous, and truly kind to everyone. I know she’s with Dave now and there is no place she’d rather be. She will surely be missed.
My years teaching at Robson are a treasure trove of great memories. Ann not only was a fun colleague, but was a wonderful Kindergarten teacher to one of my children. Alway upbeat and full of joy making every room she entered light up. Always gentle, generous, and truly kind to everyone. I know she’s with Dave now and there is no place she’d rather be. She will surely be missed.
I knew Ann through my sister. She is a beautiful and graceful soul, a true southern belle. She will be sorely missed.
Ann and I taught school together in Mesa. We lost touch when I moved to Sedona. She was a very classy, gentle, beautiful person loved by all especially those cute little ones whose lives she influenced. So sorry to here of her passing.
Ann treasured her family including David, sons, daughter-in laws and grandsons. She was a caring family member to her mother, stepmother, father, stepfather and siblings. So many young children began their education with Mrs. E and Ann provided it with joy and loving care and the parents always felt their children were special. I was very lucky to teach kindergarten for many years at Robson with Ann. The school staffs of several schools benefited from her her dedication to teaching, involvement in school activities and her charming way of supporting staff, students and parents. The Mesa community also benefited from Ann’s involvement, dedicating time and hard work. Ann gathered friends from the organizations, school staffs and friends she met as she raised her sons. Many of these friends stayed dear to her throughout her life. These friends received such love and interest from Ann. I will so miss the many talks we had over the years both in person and on the phone. I am waiting to get her new cell phone number! She should have a good network with her life in the heavens. Love you dear friend.
Ann was my first cousin. We grew up in Waldren, Arkansas where all of the Burnett families lived. Many of the families moved to Marshall, Texas. Ann had moved to California and Arizona. She always kept in touch with all of us and faithfully came to Texas to visit or attend family events. Her smile was always there to make all of us cheerful. I was looking forward to having a double 80th birthday celebration with Ann, but now she will have her birthday in a more glorious place.
I met Ann or “Mrs. Eagleburger” when I was in 6th grade and assisted her in her kindergarten class at Lincoln elementary. A friendship was borne and I babysat for her for many years and also assisted when she hosted school functions. I lost touch as I grew up, married and had a family. She was defiantly a major influence in my life❤️
I first met Ann as it was my honor to have both Matt and Casey as students in my classroom at Nathan Hale. What pride and love Ann displayed regarding those two bright and respectful sons! Always supportive, Ann would stop by my classroom on occasion, as she enjoyed an afternoon bike ride. These visits and participation by Ann in school events resulted in a long and special friendship.
Later, as Ann joined the Robson staff, the proximity of our classrooms provided an opportunity for our teaching teams to enjoy a relationship with each other and to maintain a cheerful working environment. Ann’s effervescence was contagious! Love for her students was unexcelled! Evidence of this was watching Ann walk backwards followed by her ducklings as they moved to and from various learning locations.
Cherished memories include autumn weekends spent, through the years, at our Munds Park cabin retreat. “The Girls” relaxed with food and fun by the fire, chatting well into the night. Her love for David, her sons and grandsons, her family punctuated her conversations. A demonstration of Ann’s wit, talent, and humor are demonstrated in special occasion books which Ann created, my treasured gifts!
I will miss Ann. Personally and professionally, I admired and loved her.
I was lucky enough to teach with Ann for many years at Robson Elementary. Among the many adjectives that always come to my mind for her are classy, classic, creative, cute, and cultured. A cherished mental picture I have of Ann is her walking backwards down the school hallways watching out for the kindergarten kiddos following her. Her radar in reverse was uncanny! Without a doubt, Ann was the epitome of the perfect Kindergarten teacher! Ann was generous and giving and for years shared clothing and accessories with my family. I was also repeatedly impressed with her gift of wrapping gifts! Each was a veritable work of art! Her creativity was greatly appreciated by friends and faculty, be it notes, cards, or hilarious personalized books given for special milestones.
Ann has left such sweet special memories for so many of us!
One life can really make a difference.
That is our Ann a dear friend for almost fifty years.
This is my letter to Ann. Ann, when you hit flagstaff we had never seen anyone who had it all: so beautiful and gracious. Always kind and fun yet dignified and serious. Making top grades and in all the honor societies, sorority president, and making everything fun. I loved hearing about, “daddy & Dot, mom and Leming, and Jezebel, your Siamese cat.
Every Christmas my kids looked forward to your card even tho they had never met you. You made everything special. Nobody else could wear a short haircut like yours and with your glow and laughter you were one of a kind. You always said after college you were going to have long, curly hair.
I just loved being your friend these 60 years and I thank you for your kindness and generosity and for sharing our infirmary bedroom when we both had measles. Ann, this is to tell you thank you for being my special friend and sharing life together. Love, judybear
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Ann through a friend today. She was my kindergarten teacher way back in 1983, and although it’s been MANY years since…she’s always held a spot in my heart ❤️ She was the quintessential kinder teacher that every parent would dream of (and every child deserves). I remember walking up to the classroom door first day of school as a very shy 5-yr old; she noticed my nervousness and made sure to help make me feel comfortable and important- I was assigned the helper duty of door holder that morning. I also had just lost a tooth that first day (and was missing several others already)..I earned the nickname “Toothless Tilly” for the year. I felt so special and when I think of her to this day I still appreciate what she did for me as a child when I didn’t even realize it at the time. My mother also adored her knowing how she made me feel. We still hang a handmade ornament on our Christmas tree that I made in her class in kindergarten. My heart goes out to her family and I hope they know how much she touched others who were lucky enough to cross paths with her at some point in life such as myself. Sending love to them.
I just learned of the death of this wonderful woman from her precious daughter-in-love Nikki with a card received yesterday. Ann taught my 3 sons at Robson in the 1980’s. Plus during those years she taught me so much too. To this day I share about her love for children with others. One of many fun times with her was when she dressed up as a cheerleader for school. It was for Halloween. But each day she was a cheerleader. Then I remember her dressed as a clown for a class presentation. What a gal! She is missed but knowing her has been a treasure. I praise God for her and know her love has been passed on greatly to her children and all their families.
This evening one of my sons and I were talking about teachers and of course Mrs Eagleburger was the first teacher mentioned. We decided to look her up. It was sad to see that she and her dear husband had both passed away. Our family was so blessed to have Mrs E teach four of my six children. I volunteered at Robson and was at school often. Mrs E never had a cross word to say to any child. What a wonderful start she gave my four boys. Even years later she asked about my boys and remembered their names. What a wonderful woman she was. At our house she was the very best!