Ann Givens Kellam Obituary

Ann passed peacefully in her home on Saturday, February 3, 2024.  She lived for 40 years in Cincinnati with her husband (James, now deceased) and 3 children (Jim, Amy, and Kent) before moving to Virginia Beach.  She shared a happy life with Bobby Kellam (now deceased) for 16 years of travel while Shag dancing, and both were inducted into the Virginia and National Beach Shaggers Hall of Fame in North Myrtle Beach.

Ann was conscientious, caring, and fun-loving and will be missed by many friends and family.  She leaves behind 3 children, one brother (Bob Rice), and 5 grandchildren.  She cherished relationships with Bobby’s adult children (Stacey Kellam and Shelly Parker), her predeceased siblings (Sue Wetenkamp and Jack Rice), and her dear mother (Louise May).  Ann greatly appreciated the dedication and loyalty of Amy and Stacey, along with caregivers Ashley, Angela, and Gladys which allowed her to remain comfortable, safe, loved and cared for in her beautiful home for 17 years after a stroke.

There will be an informal Celebration of Life in the coming months according to Ann’s wishes.  Her final resting place is beside Bobby at Princess Anne Memorial Park at the Chapel of Peace Mausoleum.  You are always in our thoughts and forever in our hearts.  Thank God for the life of Ann, a gift from God to us!

Ann’s Life Story

 Ann Givens Kellam (Little Annie Rice) was born June 11, 1936 in the hills of Monticello, Kentucky.  She soon moved to Cincinnati where she lived for 40 years, graduating from Withrow High School, marrying Jim Givens, and raising Jimmy, Amy and Kent.  Ann was hardworking, devoted to her family, detailed and meticulous in her everyday life.  She was the glue that held our family together.  Most of her adult life in Cincinnati was shared with her loyal best friend, Peggy Stoller.

Ann was committed to family life, including holiday gatherings with her three siblings and frequent weekend visits to the in-laws.  She was thoroughly involved in the many activities her children participated in:  football, basketball, baseball, ballet, cheerleading, softball, bowling, and school plays.  Ann’s kids excelled in academics and sports; they were loved and cared for.

The family moved to Virginia Beach in 1976 with Jim’s job transfer.  Moving to the east coast was a big adjustment, but Ann tackled it with confidence and excitement.  She loved her new home in Kings Grant, kept the yard manicured, the vegetable garden bountiful, and the home immaculate.  She loved the beach town atmosphere with new adventures.

Soon enough, the beach life took a detour to Pittsburgh for three years, followed by a divorce after 28 years of marriage, and a welcome return to VB.  She moved in with Amy & Ray, and actually had her first date with Bobby Kellam in 1984 on their wedding day.  Bobby was the light of Ann’s life and they had 16 wonderful years together, although only the final seven months were in marriage.

The Ann & Bobby years were lively, full of travel and shag dancing.  The two were inseparable, spending many nights at Steppin Out and Oscar’s.  Their journeys included frequent North Myrtle Beach stays for the shag world’s gatherings like SOS and Our Time, multiple Caribbean cruises, and Raleigh trips to visit Red’s and Boogie and Blues, where they met Ronnie Gardner.  After years of shagging as an adorable couple, they were both inducted into the Virginia and National Beach Shaggers Hall of Fame.  They found a beautiful home in 1997 on Bay Island in VB overlooking the boating activities of Marina Shores and Long Creek.  She and Bobby enjoyed three years there until cancer took Bobby.  She was heartbroken.

Ann’s life always centered around God and spirituality.  She read, she studied, she joined Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment, Search for God study groups, she meditated, she prayed, she attended workshops & seminars, she found a church family at Unity Renaissance and later at Spring Branch.  Along the way, she nurtured many friendships:  Chris Kimmons and Carolyn Beckner were especially close friends.

Ann was blessed to spend three years with Oliver Hawkins until cancer took him in 2005.  Their relationship was light, compatible and affectionate.  Ann was committed to caring for both Bobby and Oliver in their final months of life which was taxing both physically and emotionally.  Then came the cruel timing of her stroke in February 2007 which started a new chapter of therapy, adaptations and slowing down.  To her credit and with a great deal of tenacity, Ann managed another 17 years before passing.  She rarely complained, she accepted her plight with positivity and integrity without signs of depression or surrender.  For those who cared for her in her final years, specifically her nurses Gladys, Ashley and Angela, and particularly, her daughter Amy, son-in-law Ray, and Bobby’s daughter Stacey, there were many life lessons and invaluable memories that were built, bonded and cherished.

I am grateful for Mom’s love, wisdom, positive outlook, and her dedication to spiritual growth.  Thank you, God, for sharing her, a true gift from YOU to us!

Love you past heaven, Love you more than all the world, Love you longer than a lifetime,

Amy

Life

  Look around you!  It’s teeming with life…..flowers, trees, frogs.  It’s all part of the wheel, always changing and growing.  Your life is never the same.  Lika a child, one day you’ll grow up.  You’ll do something important, like have children of your own.  Then one day you’ll go out, like the flame of a candle.  You’ll make way for new life.

There’s a certainty, a natural way of things.  If not, you’d be stuck like a rock at the side of a stream.  Do you want to stay stuck as you are right now, forever?

No human wants to die, but it’s part of the wheel, the same as being born.  You can’t live without dying.  Don’t be afraid of death, be afraid of the unlived life.  You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live!

Be glad we have the opportunity to be alive at this time and to be a part of our preparation for the influences of a spiritual journey.  Our experience on Earth is not by chance.  We are here to fulfill the purpose of our existence which is simply soul growth and soul evolution.

Isn’t There More?

 When you do believe, it’s hard to conceive there are those around who don’t.

Or say they can’t or won’t.

Who truly think that when they’re done with living here they’re just not going anywhere.

And as the curtain comes down on the final act, that really is the end of the show—

Nowhere else to go.  But does it make sense?

Take time to look around and observe some evidence

 for belief in the purpose of a greater intelligence.

See that every day, even in the smallest way–down to the atom—

Everything plays a part and shows example to make sense of intelligence.

Find just near at hand that we can understand

our own planet’s orbit round the sun of which we are as one.

Locked into this pattern of precision we have based the measurement

of an hour as a component unit of our day and night.

Never doubting the cycle would falter, and that after darkness will always follow light.

Isn’t that intelligence?  Look to the stars, and know that what you see

is only fringe perimeter of what is and can be.

The solar system.  A galaxy.  The universe.  Outer space.  Eternity.

Simply words in the limited capacity of our vocabulary when confronted by such enormity.

And yet this fragment of close proximity is held by the same guiding force

to keep them off a collision course, and anchor us with gravity.

Here is intelligence.  So does it make sense that this wondrous miracle of human structure

that is us would have been created for so brief a contributing span if we hadn’t a place

in the ongoing scheme of a master plan?

So what’s it all been for if there isn’t any more of lasting worth

from such a precarious stay on earth?

 And if we touched moments of happiness as purest gold they slipped away,

a rapture too brief to capture, and never to hold.

As laughter was precious—and fleeting—lost once more in fears and washed with tears

through the hurtful truths we’ve had to learn.

And the pain when we were knocked down and then get up to try again.

It can’t all have been for nothing or totally in vain.

There must be something for the self to earn, and hope to be,

in a more caring extension to this dimension and touch love in continuity.

Yes, we do catch glimpses of balance by a universal law we cannot ignore.

Pause to reflect on the logic of “cause and effect.”

We’ve all had proof of what that’s about and to know, with time,

everything put in goes full circle and comes back out.

Indeed, the game of life is the game of boomerangs.

Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy!

And so, we come to the end of our stay, and the next chapter could be another tomorrow

just beyond one last breath.

Perhaps it makes some sense from living that our reward for any points we scored,

were when giving of oneself, our time, our energy, and our commitment.

A Poem by Ruth Eagle (adapted by Amy Williams for Mimi)