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Ann Shires
ANN SHIRES
Iowa City
Ann Kirkpatrick Shires, 79, of Iowa City, died Monday, July 28, 2014, at her home after a long illness.
Services will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lensing Funeral Service in Iowa City. Burial will follow at the Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City. Visitation will be held Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the funeral home.
Instead of flowers, the family requests that memorials be directed to Iowa City Hospice or The Nature Conservancy.
Ann was born Sept. 25, 1934, in Lawton, Okla., the daughter of Tom and Thelma (Cease) Kirkpatrick. Both her maternal (Cease and Morgan) and paternal grandparents were Comanche County pioneers when this section of Indian Territory was first opened for settlement. In her teen years she was active in local rodeo (barrel racing) and achieved her pilot's license, flying commercially for the air taxi service out of the Lawton Airport. She graduated from Lawton High School in 1952, from Christian College in Columbia, Mo., in 1954 and obtained her BS (1956) and MS degrees (1965) from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.
With the much valued support of biochemistry professor Mary Carpenter (Oklahoma Medical School) and Dr. Lou Ann Pilkington (Cornell Medical School), she earned her Ph.D. in 1977 from the University of Oklahoma based on her work in labs at Oklahoma, the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and the University of Iowa. Her various publications were in the fields of chromosomal and mitochondrial proteins.
She took early retirement from the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Iowa to work on the Iowa campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment (passed in
Iowa but failed in Illinois). She served on Iowa City Human Rights Commission in its early days, on the board of the Crisis Center, on the Interfaith Council and on the governing group for the local chapter of Alpha Chi Omega. She acted as treasurer for the successful campaign to elect Debra Conger as Johnson County Registrar and was a long-time member of the League of Women Voters.
Ann is survived by her husband of 52 years; her brother, Colonel Joe J. Kirkpatrick, USMC retired; her children, Cynthia Klinghoffer (Jeff) of Geneva, Ill., Heather Nakamura (Takashi) of Port Moody, British Columbia, and Elliot Shires of Iowa City; and three grandchildren, Tobi and Ben Nakamura and Sydney Klinghoffer.
She is also survived by two longtime wonderful friends, Beverly Stone of O'Fallon, Mo., and Dr. Lou Ann Pilkington of Los Alamos, N.M.
She is predeceased by both of her parents.
Ann's family would like to express their deep appreciation to the many caregivers of Home Instead, Comfort Care and Iowa City Hospice for their skill and thoughtfulness during Ann's long illness.
Thoughts may be shared with the family at www.
lensingfuneral.com.
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