Patricia Ann Beard-Simmons, known as Ann, 64, of Corning, Iowa, passed away on June 9, 2019 in Loveland, Colorado.
Celebration of life will be held Saturday July 13 in Erie, Colorado.
Ann was born in Corning, Iowa to Donald Beard and Dorothy Kennedy on February 21, 1955. She moved to Colorado later in her adult life. She married and had two children. She was very passionate and involved in Akita dog rescues, as well as breeding and raising her own loved Akita’s, her friends dubbed her battle with cancer as Akita Strong, as she fought through life with the tenacity and strength as her beloved Akita’s. She was the editor and publisher of Akita Planet, a publication that supported dog rescues and helped to place foster Akita’s in loving homes. Ann was loved in the Akita community by many, there will be a foundation named in her honor to continue her passion for saving senior and abandoned dogs.
Ann is preceded in death by her father Don, and her mother Dorothy.
Ann is survived by Sara Kennedy (of Loveland, Colorado), her daughter Mina, Alli (of Loveland, Colorado) and Nick Pryor and their children Brayden and Brooklyn, her sisters Cindy Bohnhoff (of Spaulding, Illinois) and Paula Lynn Beard-Zittritsch (of Peoria, Illinois) , as well as many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.
Memorials may be given to Pathways Hospice of Northern Colorado The family of Ann wishes to extend our sincere thanks to the staff of Pathways Hospice for their kind and empathetic care, and to her many friends who have become family.
