Alice Ann Driscoll passed away peacefully at her home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on December 22, 2023. She was born December 2, 1941, to Daniel J Driscoll and Alice (Root) in Austin, Texas. Her childhood years were spent between Fort Worth and Austin, Texas where her father Dan Driscoll pursued his architectural career. Ann was especially proud of the Austin landmarks that Dan designed with his partner Delmar Groos, among these the Deep Eddy and Barton Springs Bathhouses.
Growing up Ann attended O’Henry Junior High and Austin High, where she served as the vice president of the student council, and was voted Senior Favorite. Ann also pursued a love of riding horses at the Hobby Horse Stables in Austin.
Ann attended University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a degree in the school of Architecture and was a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority as well as multiple honor societies. She subsequently became one of the first women to attend law school at the University of Texas.
She married Michael Austin Hatchell on June 26th 1965, and subsequently moved to Tyler, Texas where she raised her two sons while completing her MLA at Southern Methodist University. In Tyler, she was involved in the Junior League, the First Presbyterian Church, and worked as a travel agent. She also traveled extensively internationally, pursuing her interests in art history, Egyptology, photography, language, and opera while attending classes at University of Texas at Tyler and Tyler Junior College. Ann continued on her father’s path by contributing to the architecture and design in building the family home. She later enrolled and finished her M.A. degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas Texas where she graduated in May 1994 where she was advised by Annemarie Weyl Carr.
Ann moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1994 where she enrolled in the PhD program at University of Chapel Hill, North Carolina under the mentorship of Dr. Jaroslav Folda, where she graduated in 2005. Her dissertation, “Alberto Sotio, 1187, and Spoleto: The Umbrian Painted Cross in Italian Medieval Art” served to promote scholarly and local interest on the most sacred object in Spoleto, Italy. After graduation, Ann continued to pursue her research and teaching. She taught at Meredith College and North Carolina State, and was published in numerous publications including the Cleveland Museum of Art journal. In her later years, she moved from Chapel Hill to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Ann will be remembered for exemplifying the intellectual curiosity, creativity, and determinism that came from her parents, and also for encouraging those same qualities in her children. Her friends around the world will also remember her “How do you do’s,” and though her lilting Texas accent faded over time with her language studies and travel, her unique charm and grace never faltered even in the midst of the challenges she faced.
Ann is preceded in death by her parents Alice and Dan, and is survived by her two sons and daughters-in-law David Hatchell (Elise) of Oakland, CA; and Chris Hatchell (Kimberly Dukes) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She is survived as well by her brother Bill Driscoll (Meredith) of Richardson, Texas, and nephews Robert Driscoll, Steven Driscoll (Lindsey), and her special friends Latrelle Peterson from Austin, Texas and Kathy Jo Wetter from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The family expresses its eternal gratitude to the staff at Methwick Community in Cedar Rapids, for providing exceptional care and comfort over the last 8 years.
A memorial service in honor of Ann’s life will be held at a later time in Austin, Texas. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to Friends of Deep Eddy in Austin Texas, or the Cyprus American Archaeological Institute.
This obituary was published in the Austin American-Statesman on May 13, 2024,
