Anna May Wreen (Barry), of Belmar, NJ passed away on May 1, surrounded by family, a few days short of her 96th birthday. Ann was born in Philadelphia on May 13, 1923, the daughter of Joseph and Catherine Barry, in the Gesu parish of Philadelphia. She graduated John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School in 1941; following graduation, she moved through positions at Curtis Publishing, Andale Company, Smith Kline & French, Gimbels and the Philadelphia Bulletin until starting a family with her husband, Ed Wreen, in 1949.
Ann was blessed with a quick wit and a sense of merriment that made the most ordinary of activities into an adventure. She didn’t take herself too seriously and had a healthy sense of the absurdity of it all. Ann was born to laugh and she met her match in her husband, Ed Wreen – a born jokester. Together they raised their five kids first in Philly, then Willingboro, NJ, moving to Belmar in 1980 to watch ocean storms and wild skies together.
Ann is predeceased by her husband of 64 years, Edward Wreen, her brothers Joseph, William and Francis Barry, her sister Mary Barry. She is survived by her two sons, Edward Wreen Jr. and Michael Wreen and his wife Hye-Kyung Kim; three daughters, Margaret Wreen and her husband David Stirk, Kathryn Wreen and her husband Thomas J. Cooke, and Annette Wreen; three grandchildren, Thomas E. Cooke, T. Shim, and Cara So-Hee Wreen; as well as several nieces and nephews. They all found her funny and a delight.
Visiting hours will be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, 7 to 9 PM at the O’BRIEN FUNERAL HOME, 2028 Highway 35 at New Bedford Rd, Wall, NJ, 07719. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 8 at 10:00 AM at St. Rose Church, 603 7th Ave., Belmar, NJ, 07719. Interment will follow at Brig. General William C Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery, Wrightstown NJ. For directions or to offer online condolences to the Wreen family please visit www.obrienfuneralhome.com.