— An avid British sports car enthusiast
(March 15, 1937 — January 20, 2021)
Ann Evelyn (Donald) Faranetta “Nancy”died at her home in Rocky Hill with her family by her side on January 20. She was 83.
Ann was born on March 15, 1937 in Nesquehoning, PA. After graduating high school, she studied nursing and earned a degree from the Allentown Hospital School of Nursing in 1956 and began work at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. In addition to her full responsibilities as a nurse, she attended Columbia University and earned a bachelor's degree in nursing.
Ann was an avid British sports car enthusiast and weekend rally driver. Her passion for British sports cars became the vehicle for meeting her future husband John, who at the time owned a Triumph TR-3. Ann and John, subsequently, became a road rally team with Ann as the driver and John as the navigator / mechanic, racing an Austin Healy 3000.
Ann and John moved to Baltimore, MD where Ann served as a nurse at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The young family then moved to northern New Jersey where they purchased their first home. One summer on the Jersey Shore, Ann spotted and insisted John buy a plywood Sailfish that was for sale. It was this humble sailboat that launched a family-wide love for sailing that endures to this day.
Ann’s love of sailing grew into a passion of competitive one-design sailboat racing and offshore sailboat cruising. An active member of Lavallette Yacht Club, Ann started sailboat racing as a crew aboard a 15-foot Barnegat Bay Sneakbox working the pumps to keep the boat afloat. She later crewed for many years aboard a Hobie 16-foot catamaran and competed in the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association summer series. Ann also loved offshore cruising with John, making many trips to New England and islands in the Caribbean.
During the winter months, Ann was an avid downhill skier who enjoyed trips to the Italian Alps and slopes in the American and Canadian West.
From 1980 to 1999, Ann worked for the Princeton University Health Psychology Laboratory at Green Hall as a faculty assistant and she attended classes at Princeton. Subsequently, it was through her university friends that Ann was introduced to the Puerto Rican satellite island of Culebra. Ann fell in love with Culebra on her first winter trip there and later convinced her husband John to buy a remote hilltop property from an island rancher family.
As their retirement years approached, Ann and John built a modest Spanish-style villa on Culebra completely powered by renewable energy. Their rock-solid house has spectacular views and has survived hurricanes, brush fires, and earthquakes.
Ann is survived by her husband John; her children: John, Chris, Tim, David, and Jane: her daughters-in-law: Diane, Janine, Patricia, and Melinda; grandchildren: Cameron, Jake, Marlee, Luke, Julia, Jack, Kate, Ryan, Alexander, Reed, Kimberly, and Drew; and her sisters: Sandra Donald and Donna Serio. Ann is pre-deceased by her father Rollin Donald and mother Lois Wargo.
The family would like to thank her caregivers for their efforts and dedication to Ann during these difficult times. A celebration of life will be planned at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made in Ann Faranetta’s honor to The American Nurses Foundation:
Arrangements are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton.
