Ann Wilson Passes Away

[Uncle Roger]

Festival mainstay Ann Wilson passed away this week at the age of 91. All of us who ever attended a festival met her at registration where she would hand you your badge and program book.

[dom]

RIP

[Gothick]

May her spirit know peace. Ann's episode guide to DS, printed in one of the PomPress books, is the gold standard for episode guides to the series, at least those available in print sources.

G.

[Midnite]

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2022 - * SHADOWGRAM UPDATE # 449
 
 IN MEMORY OF LONGTIME DARK SHADOWS FESTIVAL / FAN CLUB COORDINATOR ANN WILSON
 
ShadowGram is saddened to report that longtime Dark Shadows Festival registration director and fan club coordinator Ann Wilson passed away on October 5, 2022 at the age of 91.
 
Born on June 1, 1931, Ann was an only child and was raised in her lifelong home of Maplewood, New Jersey.
 
Following graduation from college, Ann pursued a career as an executive assistant with a Wall Street firm in New York City, commuting by train.
 
At an early age, she developed a love of dogs and horses, including an interest in dog shows and rodeos throughout her life.
 
Ann was also a music fan with Hank Williams a particular favorite. In the 1960s, she embraced the British Invasion sound of The Beatles and other artists from England. She connected with Gerry Marsden of Gerry & The Pacemakers and headed up his American fan club for a number of years on a volunteer basis.
 
In her youth, Ann pursued a passionate interest in England and would make annual trips for many years. She enjoyed the country's history and theatre, befriending acclaimed stage and film actor Frank Finlay.
 
By the early 1980s, Ann had left Wall Street and began a part time employment with WNBC television, New York, working in audience services. It was during this time that the station joined other NBC affiliates and independent stations across the country in airing reruns of original "Dark Shadows" episodes from the 1960s. Ann had never seen the series before but a longtime friend urged her to watch and she quickly became attracted to Shakespearean actor Jonathan Frid's portrayal of the guilt-ridden vampire Barnabas Collins.
 
Ann met Frid a few years later as "Dark Shadows" moved to the New Jersey Network PBS stations. She assisted him with his first efforts to put together dramatic readings at the "Dark Shadows" Festival conventions, which began in Newark in 1983. Ann hosted an early Frid rehearsal at her home and would later join him for a special video shoot in Newport, Rhode Island at the Seaview Terrace estate which served as the exterior of the Collinwood mansion on "Dark Shadows."
 
From inception, Ann was enlisted to serve as registration director of the "Dark Shadows" Festival and her longtime P.O. Box 92 in Maplewood became the official fan club address for the next four decades.
 
Ann enjoyed the challenge of maintaining the "Dark Shadows" Festival and fan club mailing list, which would number in the tens of thousands over the years, handling mass-mailings to fans and coordinating the registration set-up at dozens of Festivals and related events in Newark, New York, Tarrytown, Los Angeles, Dallas, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Coronado and Burbank through the 50th anniversary of "Dark Shadows" in 2016.
 
Additionally, Ann treasured her antique collection of ornate buttons used for women's and men's apparel dating from the 1800s through the middle 20th Century. She was a longtime member and treasurer of the New Jersey State Button Society. Her other great hobby was reading huge numbers of books, magazines, and newspapers, including the daily New York Times for her entire life.
 
Ann was also involved with local and statewide historical organizations and endeavors in New Jersey.  She leaves no surviving family but many friends, neighbors and countless "Dark Shadows" fans with whom she interacted in person, online and via postal mail.
 
Memories of Ann may be posted at the following Legacy website address: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/ann-wilson-obituary?id=36729950
 

1985 "Dark Shadows" Special on New Jersey Network with Jonathan Frid as guest
during Public Television pledge break - Ann Wilson, bottom row, third from right

[Bob_the_Bartender]

That was a wonderful tribute and obituary on the life of Ann Wilson in “ShadowGram.” I did not know that Ms. Wilson administered much, if not most, of the DS correspondence from her home in Maplewood, NJ at P.O. Box 92, a post office box number undoubtedly known to many DS fans throughout the country and the rest of the world.

That photograph of the 1985 DS Special on the old New Jersey Network (NJN), brings back great memories of watching DS on NJN, starting, I believe, in 1983 with the airing of the landmark episode featuring the arrival of Barnabas (wearing an apparently quickly disposed of hat, thankfully) at Collinwood until 1986 (?) and PT 1970 episode 1006, where the all-too-oily Horace Gladstone accuses the meek and self-effacing Dr. Cyrus Longworth of also being the evil John Yaegar.

Incidentally, the bespectacled man, seen holding the microphone in that 1985 NJN photograph, is Hendrix Nieman, the then-general manager of the NJN PBS station in the Garden State. Mr. Nieman was instrumental in getting DS aired on NJN for several years. Unfortunately, there was a change in management at NJN in 1986 and Mr. Nieman’s successor at the station thought that DS was “beneath the dignity” of a PBS station and quickly cancelled the show. A real bummer for the many DS fans in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, who tuned in every week night to watch the show and who wanted to see the final 200 or so DS episodes on NJN. It wasn’t until 1990 (?), that DS fans could eventually get to see those “missing” DS episodes on the old Sci-Fi Channel.

Kathryn Leigh Scott thanked Ann Wilson for Ann’s assistance when Ms. Scott wrote her first DS book, “My Scrapbook of Memories of Dark Shadows.” I think all DS fans owe Ann Wilson a great debt for her many efforts to maintain interest in our beloved television program.

Requiem aeternam, Ms. Wilson.