Saturday, April 27, 2024
Ann Patricia Mertens Springer passed away peacefully on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, after a short illness.
A funeral service to celebrate her life was held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, at Pidcoke Cemetery.
Ann was born Sept. 9, 1942, in Alice to Winnie Dunn Mertens. She grew up in Alice and graduated from Alice High School. In January 1961, Ann married her lifelong love, Doyle Springer who passed away in January 2018.
She attended college for a short period of time studying business. Ann was a proficient computer keypunch operator at Fort Hood and later helped start A&D Plumbing with her husband, surprising several customers with her knowledge of plumbing. She then worked at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Alfred D. Hughes Unit in medical records, and later as a supervisor over Inmate Records until her retirement.
Ann enjoyed collecting antiques, completing crosswords, word puzzles, reading, and searching the local newspaper for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors, which earned her the affectionate nickname of Grammar Nazi by her family. She was also big into family genealogy research. She was a big supporter of several causes and donated to organizations such as the Arbor Day Society, World Land Trust, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, American Cancer Society, and Copperas Cove Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), of which she was a lifelong member. She also held a position in the 1970s on the “Our Land Our Lives” committee to successfully stop Fort Hood from appropriating more private land. She was also very proud to be a fourth generation Texan.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Doyle Lee Springer; mother, Winnie Evelyn Dunn Mertens; sisters Linda “Beth” Rodgers and Ilean Payne; and son, Billy Springer.
Ann is survived by her brother, Frederick “Butch” Mertens; daughters, Becky Foreman, Deanna Cordell, Debbie Springer, Barbara Gray, Brenda Nwosisi; sons, Brian Springer and wife, Melissa, and Bruce Springer and wife, Terri; several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to the National Arbor Society, or to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
