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Ann McDowell Burger grew up in Maxwell, NM where she was born to Alice Rosier McDowell and Milton T. McDowell on Feb. 23, 1921. She attended Park College, Parkville, Missouri and graduated from NM Highlands University. She began her teaching career in Maxwell, but soon married James 'Scotty' Burger and followed him to California so she could be nearer to him during WWII. She returned to Maxwell and worked for the State Highway Dept. before resuming her teaching career, which she continued as her family moved first to Las Cruces and then to Albuquerque. While in Las Cruces she earned her MA degree from NMSU. Ann took her students' welfare very much to heart and sought not only to teach them academic material, but also to give them life skills and values that would enable them to lead honorable and responsible lives. When she retired from the Albuquerque Public Schools, she became an enthusiastic volunteer working first with the ABQ Visiting Nurses and then with the ABQ Visitors Bureau where she thoroughly enjoyed meeting new and interesting people. Ann was a keen observer of her fellow man. Not much escaped her. She possessed an amazing intelligence, a prodigious memory and a wonderful dry sense of humor. Years after an event she could recall names and dates with ease. To hear her recount the colorful events of her early years in Maxwell was a delight. She was innovative and tenacious. Whatever she set out to do, she did well. She was a gifted seamstress, a great cook, and an avid reader. Ann was especially close to her sister, Jane Schaefer, and her two brothers, Jim and John McDowell and their families. Aunt Ann always took interest in the lives of her nieces and nephews and never failed to be gladdened by their visits. She was a faithful and strong helpmate to her husband of 62 years. She had a very special affection for her son-in-law Hilary Arathoon. She was a most loving mother to her only daughter, Alice, and she adored her two grandsons Andoe and Peter. Following a fall in her home and surgery, Ann peacefully passed on at a local hospital with her family praying at her bedside on Saturday morning, October 22, 2005. French Mortuary 10500 Lomas Blvd. NE 275-3500
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