Ann Laura Dignan, R.N., C.N.M, F.N.P, and founding owner of Hill Country Midwifery Services in Blanco, passed away peacefully at her home January 21, 2017.  She was 71.

Ann was born August 6, 1945 the first of six children to Laura and Thomas Dignan in Kenmare, N.D.  By the age of eighteen she was in nursing school and continued with a degree in Nurse Midwifery, followed later with an additional degree as family nurse practitioner.  She was and FNP with Dr. Weaver until her retirement in the fall of 2016.

As a young adult, Ann traveled extensively in South America and made an overland trip from Turkey, through Afghanistan and into India.  Immersing herself in multiple foreign cultures fostered her unique skill of finding common ground with all people.  Throughout her 45 year career she specialized in well-woman, prenatal care and home births.  Ann delivered one thousand two hundred babies in the Hill Country area plus assisted with an additional three hundred births.  She was widely known, appreciated, and loved for her excellent midwifery skills and her ability to guide and empower women through their pregnancies and home births.  She gave life to a set of traditions nearly lost in modern America.

Ann was also an avid farmer who raised poultry and grew much of her own fruits and vegetables.

She is survived by her siblings, Kathleen Robichaud and husband Donald of Warwick, RI, Robert Dignan and wife Louise of Warroad, MI, John Dignan of Hilo, HI, Jean Cook and husband Marion of Martinsville, IL, and Dorothy Cho and husband Si Tae of Eastridge, TN.  Ann is also survived by several nieces, nephews and many dear friends.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.