J Ann Devitt Trevelyan

J Ann Devitt Trevelyan (“Ann”) of Concord, MA (formerly long-time resident of Lincoln, MA), died peacefully at her home on March 12. Ann was the beloved wife of Eoin W. Trevelyan, adored mother of Fiona Trevelyan Hornblower of Concord (James), and Stuart E. D. Trevelyan of Chevy Chase, MD (Jessica), cherished grandmother of three grandchildren, and dear sister to Barbara Devitt Guyomar of New Zealand.

Ann was born on March 25, 1937, in Cheshire, England, the eldest daughter of Francis Hewitt Devitt and Dorothy Latham Stazicker Devitt, and was raised in Southport, Lancashire, England. She moved to the U.S. in 1965, where she and her husband both pursued graduate degrees at Harvard University, and where their children were born. Ann taught educational psychology and adolescent psychology at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, while her husband was a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Fellow at Spelman from 1967-69, before the family returned to the Boston area. 

Ann received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Nottingham, and her doctorate in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (1978), where she was the first person permitted to pursue a doctorate part-time at HGSE, enabling her to continue raising her young children during her doctoral studies. 

Ann was a long-time educator in both England and the U.S., in both independent and public schools as well as universities, with numerous leadership roles, including as Co-Director of the Harvard Divinity School/Harvard Graduate School of Education Program on Religion and Education, as well as Assistant Head roles at Newton Country Day School and the Hun School of Princeton, NJ. She was a mentor to many and particularly focused on female educational achievement.  

A committed Episcopalian, Ann met her future husband when both were delegates from the Province of York, Church of England, to the World Anglican Congress in Toronto, Canada in August 1963; they married in April 1964. Her many contributions to the church included her key role on the Commission on Women in Ministry which led to the ordination of the first female bishop in the Diocese of Massachusetts. Ann was also a long-time member of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, a lay Episcopal women’s order. 

Ann was extraordinarily thoughtful, witty, devoted to family, a dedicated friend, a serious athlete in her youth, and staunchly positive despite the serious medical challenges of the latter portion of her life. Deeply committed to social justice and equity, she was keenly politically aware and involved. Ann loved Bach, the ocean, dogs, family trips to the Caymans, chocolate, and delighted in her grandchildren, who with their parents, her husband, and her numerous friends, will miss her deeply. 

Family and friends will gather to honor and remember Ann for her funeral service on Saturday, March 25 at 10:00 am at Trinity Episcopal Church, 206 Clarendon Street, Copley Square, Boston.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her honor to Trinity Boston Connects https://trinityconnects.org/donate/

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap Street, Concord, MA 01742  978-369-3388  www.concordfuneral.com