Obituary
Ann Lowman Yang, a greatly loved wife, mother, and grandmother, died at age 78 on December 7, 2023, at Duke Medicine Pavilion, in Durham, NC. Ann was born Ann Hutchison Lowman on July 31, 1945, in Staunton, VA. She graduated from Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in 1967 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. She worked at Newport News Shipyard, North Carolina State University, Cornell University, Ithaca College, New York Power Pool, Gulf Research, and SAS Institute as a programmer, software analyst, and testing manager. While working at N.C. State University, she met and began dating a graduate student named Raymond Yang. They married in 1971.
Ann was warm, selfless, intelligent, honest, and wise. A skilled listener and conversationalist, she could put the most guarded people at ease and was the trusted confidante of many close friends. She was optimistic and believed in every person’s capacity for goodness, humanity, and compassion. She was adventurous and opened herself to new experiences, people, and places whenever she could. She traveled extensively with Raymond and their daughter Caroline in Asia, Europe, and North America. She had great strength of mind and spirit, especially in the midst of adversity. She found great joy and pleasure in life even as she suffered through, fought, and survived two bouts of breast cancer.
Ann loved learning and staying active. She was an avid reader, an excellent writer, and a word puzzle enthusiast. She greatly enjoyed live music, dance, and the performing arts in general. She was a wonderful cook and gardener. Friends and family members will not easily forget her peach cobbler, her gingered pear and cranberry trifle, her sprawling jungle of houseplants, or her perpetual collection of mason jars filled with plant cuttings. Ann developed a later-in-life passion for photography during the year she and Raymond spent living in Toufen, Taiwan. She left behind thousands of photographs. They showcase her love of the natural world and her ability to evoke striking beauty and deep emotion from the commonplace.
Her family will miss most her bright laugh, her wide smile, her hugs, her sense of fun, her advice, and her conversation. Ann is survived by her husband of 52 years, Raymond Yang. She is also survived by her children: Caroline Yang and partner Michael Zimmerman of Chapel Hill, NC; grandchild, Adeline Zimmerman; and brother and sister-in-law, Ruffner and Czesia Lowman of Osgoode, Ontario. Memorial services will be arranged in the future. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Ann’s honor may be made to the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC through this tribute page.
