Our classmate, Ann Terese Collins (Richards) was born on Wednesday, January 6, 1954.  Ann passed away on Sunday, November 19, 2023 at age 69 after a valient battle with cancer.  Her last known residence was in Novi, Michigan.

This is Ann's Obituary notice:  

Obituary for Dr. Ann C Richards

Dr. Ann Richards: Jan. 6, 1954 - Nov. 19, 2023

Dr. Ann Richards, who practiced dentistry in Lincoln Park for nearly 40 years before she retired in 2015, died Nov. 19, 2023, of complications from liver cancer. She was 69, and she left us much too soon.

Ann Richards loved her family and her friends fiercely, her profession intensely, and her favorite sports teams fervently. She was a whirlwind who did everything splendidly – whether it was leading her college volleyball team to the national championship finals, playing the organ, filling a tooth, baking a pie, knitting a full-length coat, correcting egregious errors of grammar, holing a putt for a birdie, or cheering on her grandchildren at their games.

Ann was born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 6, 1954, the youngest of four children of Dr. Cyril R. Collins, who was also a longtime Lincoln Park dentist, and Geraldine Mellus Collins. Ann was a granddaughter of William S. Mellus, the founder and publisher of The Mellus Newspapers chain in Downriver Detroit.

Ann was whip-smart. She skipped kindergarten and therefore, she said, was “always the youngest in every class.” She was a natural athlete, too. Her brother Tom recalled that when they were children, friends would ring the doorbell and ask, “Can Ann come out and play hoops?”

Ann was graduated from Dearborn High School in 1971, deciding in her senior year to become a dentist like her father. She studied at Michigan State University for two years and was selected to enter the University of Michigan dental school program prior to earning a bachelor of science degree because of her high academic standing.

Dentistry was still mostly male in those years: Ann was one of only 15 women (out of 150 students) admitted to the U-M dental school in 1973. It was there that she met her future husband, David Richards. The couple was married in 1976. They received their Doctor of Dental Surgery degrees in 1977, only the second time in the school’s history that a husband and wife earned DDS degrees in the same class.

A few months later, 23-year-old Ann joined her father’s dentistry practice at his clinic on Fort Street in Lincoln Park. In 1978, Ann’s brother, Thomas M. Collins, earned his dental degree, also at the University of Michigan, and joined the dental practice, too. He was “pleased as punch,” the elder Dr. Collins told a newspaper reporter, that his children had decided to join him.

Ann said the two years she spent with her father before he fell ill was a “wonderful symbiotic relationship. He taught me how to do procedures that I never learned in dental school.”

Ann and Tom were partners at the Lincoln Park dental clinic for nearly 40 years. They sold the practice in 2014 and she retired the next year.

Ann and Dave loved entertaining friends, family members, and their three children and six grandchildren at their homes in Novi and Higgins Lake, Michigan, and at their condominium in Naples, Florida. Cruises with the entire family were regularly on the agenda, too. Ann knitted her last outfits for two of her young grandchildren – gray-and-white wool mittens, hat, and scarf – days before her death.

She is survived by her devoted husband of 47 years, Dr. David Richards of Novi, Michigan; three children, Kevin Richards (Amy) of South Lyon; Brian Richards (Amy) of Novi; and Colleen Burke (Dave) of Farmington Hills; six grandchildren, Leila, Andrew, and Julia Richards; Dylan Richards; and Nora and Harlan Burke; brother Dr. Thomas M. Collins (Marilyn) of Rockford, Michigan; a sister, Jan Collins (Ted Wachter) of Columbia, South Carolina; nieces Michelle Seward, Kelly Latchana, Katie Todd, and Jennifer Rennicks; nephews Michael Malcho and Sean Stucker; legions of former dental patients, and many, many friends. She was preceded in death by a sister, Kay Kaiser, and her parents, Cyril Collins and Geraldine Collins.

Visitation will be 3-8 pm Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at the O’Brien/Sullivan Funeral Home 41555 Grand River Ave Novi 48375 (248) 348-1800.
Funeral mass 10:30 am Thursday, November 30, 2023 at St.James Catholic Church 46325 Ten Mile Rd. Novi, with visitation at 10 am at church

To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Dr. Ann C Richards please visit our Sympathy Store.

DHS 1971 Pioneer Yearbook Senior Year picture - Fall 1970

DHS 1971 Pioneer Yearbook - DHS Varsity Cheerleader

DHS 1970 Pioneer Yearbook Senior Year picture - Fall 1969

DHS 1969 Pioneer Yearbook Senior Year picture - Fall 1968

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