Ann Fergusson Bittick
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Ann Fergusson Bittick passed away on Palm Sunday, April 10, 2022, in Shreveport, Louisiana. She was 85.
Born Ann Elizabeth Fergusson on August 18, 1936, Ann grew up as the only child of Thomas and Annabel Fergusson of Shreveport. She attended St. Vincent's Academy, graduating in 1954, and Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri where she graduated in 1958 cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. At the time, Webster College was a Catholic girls' college, and the classmates she met there became lifelong friends with whom she stayed in touch, visited, and enjoyed seeing when her class had its regular reunions.
After college, Ann returned to Shreveport, married, and had three children. While raising her children and honing her skills as an incredible cook, she remained active in St. Vincent's Alumnae and served as its president from 1975-77. She was also involved in the Ambassador's Club, the Shreveport Symphony, the Shreveport Yacht Club, and, most importantly, the Pelican Girl Scouts Council. Indeed, when her marriage later ended, she parlayed her many years as a Girl Scout volunteer into a role as the Council's Public Relations Director, and that was just the beginning: From that first part-time job, she went on to build a career as an executive with the Girl Scouts that took her across the country and to Europe: From 1984-1987, she served as assistant director of the Girl Scouts in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; from 1987-1990, she was based in Italy and served as the director of the Girl Scouts in the Mediterranean region of Europe.
She returned to the United States in 1990 to become executive director of the Girl Scouts in Kansas City, Kansas. In 1994, Ann came home to the South to serve as Executive Director of the Girl Scouts in Jackson Mississippi until her retirement in 2002. She remained in Jackson after her retirement, enjoying new friendships she had made there and continuing to give back to the community through her memberships in various civic organizations, as a volunteer at the Jackson Mississippi Museum of Art and a docent at the Eudora Welty House and Garden. She moved back to Shreveport in 2018.
Throughout her life, Ann loved art, music, literature, travel - and, most of all, her family. She is survived by her son, Thomas Fergusson Bittick, and his wife, Susan, of Austin, Texas; and two daughters, Elizabeth Bittick Dailey of McKinney, Texas, and Mary Bittick Camden, and Mary's husband, Mike, of Shreveport. Her seven grandchildren, who fondly referred to her as "AB", are Sarah Bates of Allen, Texas; Michael Camden of Austin, Texas; Emily Judice of Friendswood, Texas, and Caroline Camden of Shreveport; Chad Dailey of Shreveport, Rebecca Miller of Madisonville, Louisiana, and Steve Dailey of Louisiana. She also had ten great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass in celebration of Ann's life was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 13, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shreveport. Fr. Kevin Mues celebrated the Mass. Burial followed at Forest Park East Cemetery.
Honoring Ann as pallbearers were Chad Dailey, Jeff Camden, John H. LeBlanc, Kirk Labor, Michael Camden and Mike Camden.