Optometrist Ann Harvey died on December 23 2006 at the age of 43 after losing a 16-month battle with melanoma.
Harvey, of Sevenoaks, was much-loved and over 200 people attended the Celebration of her Life. She trained as an OO at UWIST and qualified in 1985 before starting her first job for Rawlings in Maidstone. After a year out to go travelling, Harvey returned to work for Ronald Brown in the London area and later settled in Sussex.
For a time she was in Burgess Hill and Lewes and employed by Wilson, Wilson and Hancock where she met her future husband Jon Wilson. In 1999, Harvey and Wilson travelled to Mountain View, California, and married near Lake Tahoe. They had two children, Joseph (11) and Heather (9) and enjoyed skiing and visiting Yosemite, Alaska and Yellowstone National Parks as a family.
Unfortunately, Harvey could not use her British qualifications to work as an OO in the US and instead took up painting at a local art class. Harvey's parents described their daughter as a 'popular person with a depth of understanding of people and a wonderful sense of humour'. They live in Winchester and can be emailed at: keithnan@btinternet.com