Ann L. Luna

July 11, 1923 - July 7, 2021

Our mother passed peacefully in her sleep, on July 7, 2021. I am struggling to even know how to put that into words. To put something of HER into words. How do you describe a little bitty woman who seemed to be the largest presence in ANY room? Our mother lived for all she was worth. And she did a lot of things. We think she was proudest of her children and grandchildren and, now, great-grandchildren. WE were her life work--and I get it. I feel that way about my children and grandchildren as well. These are the ones you pour your whole self into--unabashedly, unapologetically, fiercely when necessary. She is the central figure in who we all turned out to be. She taught us that Faith comes first. She taught us that even when you are disappointed and hurt and angry, you never ever abandon those you love. I am sad to say a couple of us may have fallen short at times, but she loved us through whatever we got ourselves into. She loved to cook and would stand all of us up on a kitchen chair at the cabinet and let us crack eggs, put together the spaghetti sauce or whatever we were able to do. Each of us took turns fussing over who got to bake the cake for Sunday dinner. Times we cherish. Even in her 80s, when Janie was working at the East Health Department, Mom would make her a hot lunch every day during the week. And we both cherished every single day we spent together. She taught us to match our daddy's socks and how to iron his handkerchiefs. She made sure we girls could sew (she sewed almost every garment we ever had till we were nearly grown) and saw to it that we got piano lessons (David played flute). She didn't teach us many really girly things, which is a puzzle in a way because while she was a pretty woman, it just flowed rather than being something she worked at, OR maybe she believed there were many more important things you could be doing? We were a traditional 1950s family, yes, but our mother, from the time we were all in school, became involved with what was then the Women's Society of Christian Service, now UMW, the lay women's mission oriented ministry of the Methodist church. She studied and learned so much about urban environments and about other places and the struggles inherent to life there. She threw herself into committees (Status and Role of Women, Committee on Religion and Race...we don't know them all). She was around when East Nashville Cooperative Ministries was born, and she worked in the thrift store on Main Street till we made her stop when she was in her 80s. She taught Sunday School and sponsored our UMYF groups at Hobson Church. SHE did NOT plan the meetings FOR us as is done now, but made sure WE knew how to select the material and topics, plan the lessons and get activities going and hold the discussions. She chauffeured countless of our friends to church or wherever we needed to go. Second MAMA to so many. Even in our adulthood, our brother's friends and co-workers started calling her Mamalu. Our mom, the activist, the choir-lady, church lady extraordinaire, second mom to legions...Methodist, and boy, has she loved the Methodist Church and John Wesley! She could just not understand why anyone would ever want to be anything else. She participated at every level from local church up to Annual Conference. She was Lay Member of conference 14 times and for two different churches. She became the first and only woman president of the Nashville District Layman’s Club—and she said, “…and then I shut it down. It needed to be. They weren’t doing anything. She answered the Upper Room call-in Prayer line for 30 YEARS and was a decades long member of the Eastland Music Club. She loved history and genealogy and spent long hours searching for ancestors and was so proud of our Jamestown heritage. (And Lady Godiva, as it turns out. Talk about strong, opinionated women! We had them.) Her life was not without struggles. She fought her way through surgeries and divorce and the loss of my precious brother 10 years ago, beloved parents, brother, sister-in-law Sara…and SO many friends. After Daddy left, she mourned, of course, but then she squared her shoulders and got on with life. She went back to work for the State of TN. She traveled extensively, with multiple trips to the Holy Land and Europe. It was the same with the cancer diagnosis. We were all convinced she really might outlive us, honestly. So the word that something could end this life lived so ferociously is something we are still processing, just being honest. We can't call her death a defeat. We call it a victory. During her last weeks, ALL the children and grandchildren and great grandchildren paraded through her living room and she cherished them all. She was proud of us all. Friends too. She was loved on and cared for in the best way we knew how. When Suzie an accident and broke her hip, Janie, who's been so close to her for these last few years, especially, picked up and stuck by her side all by herself in lone vigil, really, for the past couple of weeks. Janie's a rock star. Mom triumphed over this life, and now, she has won the life abundant and eternal that we all are promised. We picture her taking the tour of David's garden, talking with Uncle Dan and Mommaw and Poppaw and Nonnie, and, with that wonderful voice back again, singing praises to her God. One of the last things mom said to us was, "I've had a good run." Indeed you did. Rest in peace, Mama. We love you. Those that survive to cherish her memory include, two daughters, Janie Smotherman (Mike), Suzanne Clement (Paul); five grandchildren, Joseph Ura (Sarah), Emily Werner (Randall), Noah Ura (Allison), Chris Smotherman (Leanna), Laura Smotherman (Lindsey); seven great-grandchildren. Visitation for mom will be held on Friday, July 16, 2021 at Spring Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5110 Gallatin Road, Nashville, TN, 37216 from 9 AM until 11 AM at which time a Celebration of Life Funeral Service will be conducted from the funeral home chapel. Burial will follow in Historic Spring Hill Cemetery. Arrangements by Spring Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery, a Nashville landmark since 1785 “Where Nashville Comes to Remember” In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be sent to UMCOR https://umcmission.org/umcor/ or Upper Room Ministries upperroom.org