EC November/December, 2007

“She had this never ending ability to keep going no matter what,” said Paula Pray, a Kansas-based Hunter trainer.

“Ann loved life, horses, and people,” her husband Rodger Call said.  “She loved to travel to exotic places like Asia, China, and India. She rode an elephant in Nepal and camels in Egypt, but she always thought horses were the best.”

When friends and relatives spoke about Ann Call, they all described her as a determined and gutsy woman who always focused on the positive aspects of her life. Ann passed away on July 3rd from a heart attack related to her long-time struggle with juvenile diabetes. Diagnosed at age 10, Ann lived another 52 years, a lot longer than most with her condition. By the end of her life, she had suffered through several amputations and had lost both legs due to diabetes. Despite her condition, Ann could still move and show her enduring strength through her competitive nature and skill in the show ring.

“She was my American Idol,” says friend Harriet Yakatan. “Ann had such a zest for life and never complained about her physical problems. Most people I know probably wouldn’t have gotten out of bed with her condition but she went to Europe with her dialysis machine.”

When people in the horse industry think of the pleasure driving class, Ann Call and her passion for this class immediately come to mind. Her flamboyant clothes and glasses she wore illustrated her bold personality and her unique sense of style. Her favorite gait was the road gait her husband, Rodger Call, said. “She loved the breeze of the wind she felt when she was going at that speed. She always smiled and looked her best even if she made a mistake.”

Ann’s husband, Rodger, who competes in the jumping events, was always seen pushing Ann around in her wheelchair. “Their relationship was so normal that at times I almost forgot that Ann was in a wheelchair,” remarked Julie Bauwens, one of Ann’s close friends. They were, by all accounts, an amazing couple that loved each other deeply.

Rodger loved to take care of Ann and helped her daily with her dialysis machine. “Every night my mother thanked him,” recalls Ann’s daughter, Katri Koehle. Koehle told her father that it was unbelievable how well he took care of her, and he responded, “‘Your mother never had to thank me for helping her; it was my pleasure.’”

“There is not a finer example of a gentleman than Rodger Call,” Pray says.

“Rodger and Ann’s relationship was based on mutual love, respect, loyalty, and religion.”

Even though Ann had a lot of struggles throughout her lifetime, she was quite successful in the show ring. One of Ann’s proudest achievements was when she won the Amateur Pleasure Driving at the Congress, and also was Amateur Select World Champion in Pleasure Driving. For several consecutive years, she was also Amateur Reserve World Champion in Pleasure Driving at the AQHA World Show. Ann had many famous horses, but her two favorite were A Self Portrait and Luke Here Honey.

“Everyone at the show looked forward to the pleasure driving class to see what she was going to wear next,” Pray remembers. Ann had a flair for the dramatic with her unusual glasses and stylish outfits. Rodger recalls that she had this silver metallic pleasure driving hat that everyone called her “satellite hat” because it was so bright and loud. She was always searching for her next driving hat or outfit to wear in the show ring.

Ann loved to go shopping with her friend, Julie Bauwens, in Chicago. Bauwens remembers one time when Ann was trying on a pair of pants at a store and, standing up on one of her prosthetic legs, asked her whether her bottom looked big in that particular pair of pants. “I always thought that was funny, considering she was always in her wheelchair, and no one ever saw her backside.”

An avid reader, Ann was always a constant presence at the shows sitting up in the stands with her nose in a book. Bauwens first met Ann Call while she was in the stands selling her Jack Russell terriers that she bred and raised. “Ann told me to watch my step and not trip over her prosthetic leg that she had lying on the ground beside her,” Bauwens said. “From that point on, we hit it off and were friends ever since.” Ann loved her Jack Russell terriers and bragged to everybody that she had the best “bitch” that money could buy, Rodger laughingly recalls. “Of course, most people know what a pain in the butt Jack Russell terriers can be, but she loved to be in charge and could sell anything, especially her dogs.” ESPN interviewed her for an episode of America’s Horse where she was quoted as saying, “Let’s put it this way, you can criticize me, my husband and even my children. But don’t ever criticize my horses or dogs.”

While Ann was known as being opinionated and fearless, she was also known to be charitable with her time and money. She attended many Juvenile Diabetes fundraising events in cities like Scottsdale, Chicago, and Dallas. This past August, Rodger Call donated eighteen of Ann’s Pleasure Driving hats to a benefit auction that was held at The Reichert Celebration. The hats went for over $66,000 to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Association. “Ann would definitely be proud and honored to be able to help,” Rodger reflects. “The Juvenile Diabetes Association was her favorite charity because nearly all the donations go toward diabetic research.”

“Ann was such a kind and generous person,” her trainer, Charlie Cole, said. “We had a special bond. She took direction well and she was always direct and to the point.” Every day at the show, Ann would tell Cole to make sure he longed her horse really good. Ann liked to be in charge, and Cole would say with a smile, “Okay Ann, no problem.” At the Red Bud Spectacular Horse Show this year, Ann’s prosthetic leg fell off right before the pleasure driving class was about to start. Cole had to tell the judges to wait a second while he helped Ann put her leg back on. “What was so unique about Ann was that she would always smile and laugh in situations like these and always handled them with a good spirit.”

Ann was also known to be very generous toward her horse trainers. Cole and her other trainer, Chuck Briggs, said they received several bonus checks from Ann that were quite substantial. The bonuses were usually given if her horses or family won a class at the All American Quarter Horse Congress or AQHA World Show.

Serving within her church was very important to Ann. She was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) and taught seminary for 11 years. Ann’s class started at 5:50 a.m. and ran for 50 minutes every morning. In the Mormon Church, high school students are encouraged to attend an early morning religious class before school starts every day. She loved teaching children and making a difference in their lives.

Born in Chicago in 1945, Ann got to Texas as fast as she could. “She always considered herself a Texan,” Rodger said. When she was born, her father was stationed in Chicago in the Army. When the war was over, her parents, Robert Rutherford Lowdon, Jr. and Maria Matala Lowdon, moved back home to Fort Worth, Texas, where her father ran a printing business. Her Finnish mother was one of the first women to graduate from The University of Texas Law School. Rodger recalls, “Ann’s mother was a real scholar and education was very important to her.”

Showing a competitive nature at the early age of 16, Ann was the top female tennis player in the state. She traveled all over the country playing on the tennis circuit. Unfortunately, she had to give up playing tennis due to diabetic neuropathy. Ann lost the feeling in her toes and feet. “When she would remove her tennis shoes after a match, they would be half full of blood from blisters she could not feel,” Rodger recalls.

Ann went on to graduate from the University of Texas where she graduated with a degree in Physical Education and Spanish. After teaching high school for a few years, she decided to go back to graduate school. In 1971, she earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Brigham Young University, where she met Rodger and married him in August of 1970.

As a young child, Ann always dreamed of owning a show horse. Ann would go ride what she would refer to as “nags” at the property her family owned on Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth, Texas, but she had loftier ambitions. “During Christmas, she would always look in the window and hope to see a big fancy horse trailer drive up with a show horse,” her son, Rob, remembers. When she was young, Ann would often  go to town with her family, and they would eat at a local cafeteria, says Rodger. “She would gobble up her food so fast, so she could run to the drugstore and look at the Western Horseman magazine. She would beg for a show horse every year, but she never got one until later in life.”

Due to her family inheritance, Ann was able to finally pursue her love of horses. In 1985, Ann, Rodger, and their two children, Rob and Katri, competed on the Palomino Horse Breeders Association show circuit. Their first show horse was Sand Dollar Mac. All four fought over him until Ann decided they needed to buy more than one for everyone to be able to compete. Ann won the Amateur All-Around title and the use of a horse trailer at the 1986 Palomino World Championship Show. She showed in showmanship, horsemanship, western pleasure, hunter under saddle, and equitation with the mare Cross Over Cindy. At the AQHA shows, before her leg amputations, Ann showed in equitation, pleasure driving and hunter under saddle. She enjoyed competing on the Quarter Horse circuit for the past 20 years. In 2005, Ann was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

Tammy Dyer, one of Ann’s close friends, said she would miss Ann’s smile the most. “I saw her two days before she died. Ann gave me this hat with butterflies on it. She wanted me to wear it to the Kentucky Derby. She was always thinking of me.”

Ann’s daughter was moved to tears when she spoke about her mother. Katri Koehle asked her mother if she ever had phantom pains from her amputations, and her mother responded, “No, not really.” Later, Koehle found out her mother was taking Vicodin everyday for her pain. “She never complained, almost to a fault.”

Koehle got a lot closer to her mother a few years before she died. “My mother was a tough nut to crack, but she seemed to soften and become a lot sweeter toward me. I think she was a lot softer on the inside than she let on.” Koehle said her mother was always supportive of her creative efforts and always praised her. “She was always proud of her kids and grandkids,” recalls son Rob. “I will miss that my mother will not get a chance to watch her seven grandchildren grow up,” Koehle says. “But, I will see her again some day, and I believe she is an angel watching over us.”

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