Ann Gilchrist Whitmire
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COLUMBIA, SC - Requiem mass for the Repose of the Soul of Ann Gilchrist Whitmire will be celebrated Saturday, April 2, 2022, 11:00 a.m. at The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal), 1512 Blanding Street in Columbia. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service in the Church Parish Hall.
She was the daughter of the late Jessie Young Gilchrist Bigelow and Thomas Allen Gilchrist. Born March 31, 1933 in Florence, she graduated from McClenaghan High School and Columbia College prior to starting work with the South Carolina Highway Department. She returned to school earning her Associate of Science in Respiratory Care from Midlands Technical College and later her Bachelor of Arts in Exercise Science from the University of South Carolina. Ann loved her work. She was a Respiratory Therapist at Providence Hospital and also served patients in the home health environment. She retired from Providence, later returning to work as an Asthma Educator and Health Coach for Blue Choice Health Plan, retiring from there in 2017. She was a past president of the SC Society for Respiratory Care and was their Practitioner of the Year in 2013. She was pivotal in the legislative effort for legal credentialing for respiratory care practitioners in SC, which was passed in 1986. She maintained her accreditation beyond retirement and her American Association for Respiratory Care membership up to her passing.
Ann had a passion for good health and used her professional and personal energy in helping others attain it. She enjoyed volunteer work with Providence, LifePoint (now Sharing Hope SC), Carolinas Hospital System, Gift of Life Trust Fund, the American Lung Association, and Brennen Elementary School where her grandchildren attended. A free spirit, Ann loved fun and adventure of any kind, water skiing, tennis, travel, the arts in Columbia and Charleston and sharing such with her children and grandchildren, time with family and friends at SC beaches and Lake Wateree, and walking the neighborhood with her little dog Honey. She never stopped making friends along the way.
Ann was married for 17 and a half years to her beloved late husband Powell B. 'Bo' Whitmire. Later she was reconnected with her college sweetheart Bill Pridgen, and the marriage of their hearts brought much happiness until his passing. In addition Ann was preceded in death by her daughter Leslie Kinard Bernard, sister Jean Gilchrist Brannon, brother in law Bruce Brannon, former husband Burney Kinard, stepdaughter Caroline Whitmire, stepbrothers and sister Charlie and Delonie Bigelow and Luanne Taylor, and stepfather Charlie Bigelow.
She is survived by her children Jean and Kirby Leitner, Tom and Jenny Kinard; grandchildren, who were her heart, Leslie Ann and Kirby Leitner Jr., Thomas Kinard, Bo and Cam Hart, Lawrence Monahan, Connor Yawn; nieces and nephews Tammy and Johnny Dupuy and their children David and Jessie, Paige Gunter and her children Shelby and Parker, Scott and Judy Brannon and their children Laurel, Sara and Aaron, and their families; Stepchildren Bettie and Ree Hart, Cathy and David Yawn; God child Amber Neyman, Janie and Tommy Pye, Allyson Still and Alyce Legget; and the Pridgen and Easler families.
Memorials may be made to Sharing Hope SC, 2215 Henry Tecklenburg Drive, Charleston, SC 29414 (sharinghopesc.org) or to the Good Shepherd Fund at Church of the Good Shepherd listed above.
Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com.