Mary Annette "Ann" (Nance) Wilbourn

Mary Annette “Ann” (Nancy) Wilbourn was born on June 26, 1947, to parents, Tom and Mary Lou Nance. She was known as “Ann” to her 10 siblings, Peggy, Tommy, Danny, Nora, Colleen, Jerry, Eileen, Ellen, Maura, and Jim.

At the age of 16, she joined the convent to keep from having to be the other “mother” to her siblings. She spent six years in the convent where she finished her education and became a teacher, as well as becoming quite acquainted with the floor of the convent… as she had to kiss it many a day in penance due to her continual… “Maria VonTrapp like” string of mishaps. Ann ended up deciding that the convent life was not for her and she left before taking her final vows and set out to teach.

Her mother knew she didn’t know anyone and didn’t want her to be without a date, so she set her up with Jack… He was a sailor! It wasn’t long and the Sailor and the former nun, got married on April 17, 1971. They lived in San Elizario, Texas where Jack was a dairy farmer and sold raw milk. It was at this point in her life she enjoyed telling people that she married a sailor and had children with the milkman! As the years went on, Jack became affectionately referred to as her “Cowboy” because of the entire farm operation they had developed, and that’s who he was to her ever since.

In a span of 11 years, Jack and Ann had four children, Carrie, Curtt, Jolene, and Texas, to whom she became known as “Mom”. They lost one baby, Jackie, along the way. Together they ran the Dairy Farm (while Jack also worked full time for Texaco Refinery and Ann taught school off and on.) They had a lot of health conscience customers who came all the way to the country to get the raw milk they sold at Carrie Dairy.

Some of their largest customer bases were the Mormon’s and Jehovas’ Witnesses. At one point, Jack and Ann were asked to dialogue with a couple of the Mormon witnesses. They agreed with the intent of trying to convert them to Catholicism. As the many conversations went, there were many bible passages Jack and Ann had been shown that they did not understand or know how to respond to and didn’t have an answer for things they had never seen in scripture. After consulting with their priest, they were told not to engage with the Mormon’s. They couldn’t shake what they had read for themselves in the bible and still had questions that were unanswered. In an effort to understand what they were reading, they found two Bible teachers that went verse by verse through the Bible and would listen to these tapes so they could understand the whole counsel of God. Their hunger for the Word grew and grew, staying up long nights listening to as much as they could. Long story short, who would have thought that because of Mormon’s and milk, Jack and Ann would convert and become protestants?!

It wasn’t long before she was baptized when she recognized that Christ Jesus led the life she couldn’t live, and died the death that she deserved, was buried and rose again three days later, conquering sin and death, risen to new life in Christ Jesus.

Shortly thereafter, they sold the dairy, and moved to Clint, Texas where they lived until 1997. In that time, Ann got her Master of Education in Counseling at the University of Texas at El Paso. After 49 years of living in the desert, Ann decided she had enough of the desert life, and eating tumbleweeds and cactus (that’s not a joke) and decided she wanted to live where there was grass and trees! They chose Palestine, Texas where she got a job as a counselor. Jack and Ann moved there with Curtt and his wife, along with Jolene and Texas who were still in school. In the years to come, all of their children married, and they became grandparents to 21 grandchildren, changing Ann’s name yet again, to “Grannie Annie”. She retired shortly thereafter, in 2003.

Sadly, in 2010, Jack had a heart attack in their home, and she lost her precious Cowboy husband. Three years later, Ann moved in with Carrie and James in Palestine. In 2019, they moved to Lufkin, Texas where she became “Great Grannie Annie”.

Her favorite activities were reading historical fiction, praying for loved ones by name, attending Senior Saints, playing Rumikub, and listening to John MacArthur. In 2024, Ann became a member of Keltys First Baptist Church where she was greatly loved and admired and ministered to by the body of Christ in ways she didn’t know were possible. She spent her last years doing everything she could to tell everyone she met about her Jesus who saved her from her sins.

In 2025, she was diagnosed with colon cancer, and a year later, on July 17, 2026, she left her mortal body and joined her Savior in the heavenlies, her REAL home, glorifying her Lord forevermore.

Memories and condolences may be added at www.carrowayfuneralhome.com.

Carroway Funeral Home, Lufkin, directors.