Anna Mary Milam

Anna Mary Simac Milam passed from this life into the beyond on Tuesday evening, July 8, 2025, just a few months shy of her 99th birthday.

She was predeceased by her father, who died of a berry aneurysm when she was nine; her beloved older brother, who passed at eighteen while serving as a B-29 navigator in the European theatre, when Anna was sixteen; her grandson Alex Milam; her former husband, Robert Milam; former daughter-in-law, Julia Browning Milam; and former son-in-law, Dean Faulk. Her mother passed in 1994.

Anna was a brilliant and beautiful woman who experienced much in her early life, including the childhood loss of her father and brother. Her parents had immigrated from the town of Požega in northeast Croatia, and she grew up in a tight-knit Croatian neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. After losing her father and brother, her mother’s younger brother, his wife, and their children became her only relatives in the U.S.

Her dream was to become a physician, but instead she attended nursing school and hoped to join the WAC. The war ended just as she completed her training, and she moved to New York to work at Columbia Hospital. There, she met a young medical student whose late-night visits to her ward caused many a slipped stitch in the sweaters she was knitting.

They married in June 1952 and moved to Houston, where Robert completed his residency in orthopedic surgery. Ann (as she became known) worked as a pediatric nurse at Baylor University for Dr. William Daeschner, who many years later, as Chairman of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told her daughter that Ann was the best pediatric nurse he had ever worked with. That career ended with the birth of her daughter.

Five sons quickly followed, and Ann devoted herself to caring for her busy family. Career moves and military obligations took the family to Fort Worth, Texas; Needham Heights, Massachusetts; Temple, Texas; and McAllen, Texas, where they lived for 11 years while Robert was in private practice.

In between, they traveled to South America, Mexico, Europe, and Russia. Later moves took them to Massachusetts and Maine, where the children were finally grown, and Ann resumed her education at the University of Maine Orono, studying history and archaeology. This passion continued through several more relocations and a divorce.

After her marriage ended in 1981, Ann moved to San Antonio, Texas, where she settled for the remainder of her life. She returned to nursing at University Hospital for a decade, this time in oncology. During those years and into retirement, she focused on her grandchildren — especially Per, Ben, Sophie, and Bergen — who grew up nearby in San Antonio.

She volunteered for many years at the Witte Museum, where she enjoyed teaching children about the cultures and people who came before in South Central Texas. She also traveled to archaeological sites across Texas and, with the Camel Corps at the Witte, to Morocco and the Atlas Mountains. She made trips to visit children and grandchildren in Georgia, California, and throughout Texas.

Eventually, medical issues prevented further travel. Ann moved to the Capistrano Condominiums, where she made new friends and became a familiar face on the walking paths. Later, Alzheimer’s dementia led to a move to assisted living and then to Red Oaks Memory Care. She was loved and well cared for by the staff, and spent her last months smiling and watching action movies. She said her goodbyes and passed peacefully.

Anna is survived by her six children: Camis Milam, and grandchildren Dianna Faulk, Garrett Faulk (Cora Mickey), and Arthur Faulk; Robert (Bob) Milam, and grandchildren Andrew and Michael; Nicholas Milam (Lin Na), and grandson Adam; and Danielle Patrick Milam, and grandchildren Per-Erik (Allison) and great-granddaughter Nora, Benjamin (Shahaf Tuler) and great-grandchildren Ronin and Finn, Sophie Claire, and Bergen; Franklin Milam; Benjamin Milam, and grandchildren Samuel, Lydia, and Aurora Nala (Lerato); and Stanley Milam (Lisa), and grandson Colin.

In addition to her immediate descendants, she is survived by cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends who remained close throughout her life — including cousins Edward S. and Victoria Nemec, Mary K. Nemec, Robert S. Nemec, Louise Nemec Joseph, Barbara Nemec, and Dorothy Nemec Rand; niece Lisa Creed; and dear friend Jackie Awerman.

She made a difference in the world.

Interment will take place in St. Louis, Missouri, alongside her parents.