In Memory

Ann Elliott (Stuart) - Class Of 1947

Ann Elliott (Stuart)

Ann Elliott Stuart

September 2, 1930 - October 9, 2023

Ann, retired DA, orchid enthusiast, backyard fruit-grower, beloved mother, sister, nana, and friend - died at home in San Jose at age 93. Exuberant, articulate and generous, she is deeply missed.

Ann grew up in South Pasadena, one of four daughter of Grace and Charles Elliott. At Stanford University, she met her first husband, Philip Bailey. She graduated with an education degree and taught elementary school until her children were born, raising her family in Bellevue, Washington and Menlo Park, California. Divorced in 1970, she returned to teaching and moved to the South Bay. At 45, she reinvented herself, enrolling in law school at Santa Clara University. She passed the California Bar Exam on her first try. After several years in family law at Beauzay, Hammer, she joined the District Attorney's Office of Santa Clara County, her dream job. Playing an essential role on the motions team, where she applied her excellent writing skills, she mentored a generation of DAs and future judges.

In 1989, she married Richard Stuart, an engineer at IBM who was later a dean at Heald Institute of Technology. Together, they traveled in Europe and Asia with Dick's retired IBM associates. One of many highlights was seeing the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an, China. The couple were ardent supporters of San Jose Chamber Music, Symphony and Opera until Dick's death in 2017. Ann loved to nurture plants, graft fruit trees, and share what she grew. In retirement, she pursued a passion for orchids, installing two backyard green houses and serving on the board of the Santa Clara Valley Orchid Society. She eagerly coached others on growing techniques and delighted in showing off unusual and hard-to-grow specimens. At 82, she started clarinet lessons, a longtime ambition. Though never satisfied with her progress, she took pleasure in practicing daily until a broken arm in the last year of her life got in the way. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, she fought the disease for 25 years.

She is survived by her children, Janet, Bruce, and Jennifer Bailey; sister Judy Elliott Spivey '50; two step-children; eight grandchildren and step-grandchildren, and nine nieces and nephews - all of whom she encouraged to follow their dreams.

The Mercury News, December 22, 2023