Anne's Story

My mother Anne was born August 12, 1937 in Zbaraz, Poland.  She was hidden during the war and arrived in America on June 8,1949. She was married to my father, Irvin, for 63 years. They raised four children together, and she obtained a college degree while raising her family.  Anne went on to work at Parkway Central Library for seventeen years.  Her greatest joy comes from her 11 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.  Anne had a passion for gardening, reading, and educating herself in finance. In her mid 70's, it became evident something was wrong when Anne could not remember her social security number.  She was subsequently diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2014.  A present, my mom suffers from memory loss, confusion, and PTSD from the war. This disease has stripped her from remembering her grandchildren's names and even remembering that her husband died 5 years ago.

My lifelong friend, Christine Thurauf, and I have shared many things over the last forty years. We have shared holidays, graduations, weddings, and the births of our children. Unfortunately we have also shared the heartbreak of dementia and Alzheimer's affecting our mothers, Pat Devoti and Anne Zvibleman. These diseases have stripped these two wonderfully dynamic women of who they were.

Christine and I have formed a team, Patty-Anne's Posse, for The Walk to End Alzheimer's. With your support, it is our wish that we can continue to raise money for research that will bring an end to this terrible disease.

With love,

Linda S. Malin

Please visit our team page for more information.    

http://act.alz.org/goto/PattyAnnesPosseTeamPage2023

Pat's Story

Pat was born on January 31, 1940 in St. Louis, MO to William and Mary (Newbould) Gilliland. She was raised in St. Louis, MO where she attended St. Catherine’s of Sienna Elementary School and Incarnate Word Academy High School. Pat received her nursing degree from DePaul Nursing School and a BSN from Webster University.   On July 16, 1960, Pat married her childhood sweetheart, Bart Devoti in St. Louis, MO. Together they raised three children (Stephen, Christine, and Lisa), had many dogs, and lived in numerous houses across St. Louis County. During her career as a nurse, Pat worked at St. Mary’s Hospital, St. John’s Mercy Hospital, Parkway North Junior High School as the school nurse, and South County Technical School where she developed the inaugural Certified Nurses Aid Program.   After retiring in 1996, Pat continued to work and volunteer in a variety of “second careers” just for fun. Some favorites included working for St. Louis County Library and volunteering with election polls, KidSmart, Adopt a Highway, and as a classroom helper with her grandchildren in the Rockwood School District. Pat was a wonderful grandmother to her seven grandchildren and was well known as “Meme” by many as she was a regular fan at all sports games, dance recitals, horse shows, and school events. She shared her love of travel with her grandchildren and many of her favorite memories were of their European vacations together.  In addition to spending time with her family and many friends, Pat’s hobbies included Cardinal’s baseball, playing bridge and canasta, fishing, gardening, genealogy research, traveling to Europe, and eating at her nephew’s restaurant, J. Devoti Trattoria. Pat was a life-long learner and continued to attend community college classes even during retirement. 

Thank you for your love and support, Christine and The Devoti Family

"We love you more than life itself"

Please visit our team page for more information.    

http://act.alz.org/goto/PattyAnnesPosseTeamPage2023