In Loving Memory of Annette Lansley Able Sobien
My Mom, My Best Friend
July 5, 1937 - February 15, 2012







My Mom loved spending time with her grandchildren! My Angel Christopher, my daughter Rachel
(her only granddaughter), my son Mark, my nephews Lucas, Zachary and Nicholas.



You could say that Christopher was opening the gates of Heaven to welcome his Gram, sigh.



For My Children and Grandchildren

I will always love and miss you.
Be not sorrowful that I am gone
And my earthly life is done.
Be not sad I passed away,
For in you, my children and grandchildren,
I live each day.
There is a little of me in all of you,
In each new one I live anew.
So you see, I'll never be really gone
As long as there are children and grandchildren to carry on.
I have had my share of love,
sorrow and strife.
I have lived a full and fruitful life.
So do not mourn, and do not weep,
For I have earned this peaceful sleep.
~ Author unknown





Gram spending time with Christopher. My Mom's dog Sheba is in the background of the picture on the left.



Christopher with Gram, Grandma and Aunt Judy.









On the left, Gram with baby Rachel. On the right, Gram and the late Aunt Mary with Rachel at my house.





On the left, Gram, me and Rachel at the Pittsburgh Zoo. On the right, Rachel opening her stuffed tiger,
a Christmas gift to her from Gram. Rachel still loves tigers!






Rachel's Eulogy

On Wednesday, February 15th, the world lost a great woman. Her name was Annette Sobien, and she was my grandmother. You don’t need to know that she lived until the age of 74, or that she was born in Surrey, England. What you do need to know is that she was an extraordinary person, a great inspiration and a gift to those around her. Her entire life was marked by class and grace, and she carried with her a spiritual understanding rarely seen in this day and age. The last few years of her life were unfortunately crippled by an incurable lung disease, but she still pushed through them with astounding courage. There are so many other things I could say about her, about the depth of her spirit
and the height of her strength, but that’s something all of us already know, for that is the reason we stand here today.

We are here to celebrate the life of Annette Sobien, her spirit, her courage, and the tremendous blessing of divine wisdom she bore and shared with all those lives she touched. We are here because of that life, and because of the knowledge that it was Annette’s spirit which called us, from whichever walk of life we began our journey upon, together today to recognize the end of her own. We are here because we knew Annette, and because we loved her. No, what I stand here to say is…thank you. A small phrase all of us want to express, whether for Annette’s love or her guidance or her unwavering commitment to friends and family, but the reason behind my personal thanksgiving is inspiration, inspiration and an unwavering belief in my life’s goals that surpassed her very own. It was Annette’s deep devotion to my art that pushed me into honing my craft on a professional level, it was Annette’s sincere love of my work that incited me to draw more and more things to brighten her darkest days in the hospital, and it was her kindness and grace that inspired me to put pencil to paper and pull images from the very depths of my spirit in the first place. My work has been praised by recognized professors and professionals, it has been displayed in galleries and received awards, but nothing in my fledging career has honored me more than Annette’s request to be laid to rest with some of my pieces beside her.

Again, there are a great many things I wish to say, about Annette’s deep understanding of the divine, of her unquenchable trust in her eternal spirit, and the influence such had on my recognition of my own, but those emotions are too profound for even my words to express. So instead I will steal those of another – “Set as I am in my ways
and my arrogance, with the burden of proof tossed upon the believers – you were my witness, my eyes, my evidence.”
To my Gram – thank you. You have finally found your way back home.





Gram and Rachel on Mother's Day, not sure what year....



Ron, Rachel and Gram at the St. Sebastian soccer team's 8th grade recognition ceremony.



For an illustration project, Rachel took the photo of my Mom at our wedding and transformed it to the above rendition.



This is another class project that Rachel created, featuring Gram's love of owls. This piece is a watercolor painting done on 18 x 10.5 inch hot press watercolor paper, completed on 11/17/13. Unfortunately this is a photograph, not a scan.







Gram with baby Mark.





Both of the pictures above are Gram with Rachel and Mark.



The special love of Gram and Mark.





Gram with baby Zachary.



Gram, my brother Frank holding his baby boy, Zachary, and Nanna at Zachary's baptism.





Gram with baby Nicholas.



These could possibly be the last pictures taken of Gram. She is with her grandsons Zachary and Nicholas in both of these pictures.







Gram took this picture of her grandchildren here on earth: Nicholas, Zachary, Mark, Rachel and Lucas.





To read more of Mom's/Gram's story, please click on the "Back" or "Next" button below ~










My Mom's favorite musical group was Abba. That is why the song playing on this web page is their "I Believe in Angels."






A friend can hear a tear drop.




This webpage is created
In Loving Memory of Annette Lansley Sobien
on May 1, 2012
Last updated: April 30, 2015
© 2011 - 2015






Visit Maria's pages for her little Christopher at
Maria's Tribute to Christopher
Angel Christopher
My Tribute to a Very Special Boy









These are three special gifts for my Mom from my friend Marie.
You can visit her website for her son Rob here ~ Rob Northrop's Site.






This is a lovely gift from my dear friend, Cindy Jo, and her Angel Michelle.



Jason Christopher Dunn