Ann L. Teegarden August 30, 1943 – May 20, 2022, deceased at age 78 years. Wife, Mother, Grandmother, and Great-Grandmother. Public Educator in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, since 1965.

Ann was born and raised in El Paso, TX. Ann was known as driven, persistent, and tenacious, and was a voracious reader of fiction since her elementary years. She felt the calling toward teaching reading at elementary and secondary levels since her early college years. Ann was listed in the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges 1963-1964 for academic excellence, social club leadership, and leadership in the Association for Childhood Education International.

She met her husband-to-be during a table tennis game accident, and they were married on August 21, 1965. Ann showed great devotion to her students, regardless of their ability and background. In 1974, teachers of her oldest son told her the son was mentally retarded and could not succeed with a regular primary and secondary education. She disagreed vehemently and began life-long research into special education, with focus on reading disabilities, autism, and other neurodiverse conditions. She became one of Texas’s most accomplished and most experienced fluently bilingual (English and Spanish) Special Education Diagnosticians since the earliest days of IDEA legislation (starting her career in 1977 and retiring in 2016, 2018, and 2020).

Ann is survived by her husband, Teddie, her official children and wards Michael, Ted, Laura, Amy, Sarah, and Emily, plus several unofficial wards (a baker’s dozen have stayed with the family during times of need).

Funeral services will be held on May 30, 2022, at Fisher Funeral Home, 604 W. Main St, Denison, TX 75020 10:00am. Ann will be cremated afterward, and her ashes scattered in her favorite landscape, the peak of Mt. North Franklin in El Paso, Texas.