Obituary of Ann Marie Dunn

Ann Marie Libuha Dunn, age 69, of Trumbull CT passed away on June 20, 2025 in St. Vincent's Medical Center, Bridgeport, CT. Ann was born August 5, 1955 in Derby CT to Ann Kotenski Libuha and John Libuha Sr. She attended St. Mary High School in New Haven CT and graduated from Providence College RI in 1977. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. Her early career was in youth services fields employed at Boys Village in Milford and The Country Place in Litchfield County. She subsequently worked administrative jobs at Hiti Inc. in Stamford, Measurement Systems Inc. in Norwalk and as a part-time Real Estate agent with Sotheby's. Ann's mid-career consisted of the film/video production industry which she found extremely enriching. Employers included Arkay Video in Norwalk, Ulti-Tech in Stratford and Tele-Media in Seymour CT. Ann's late career positions were as a bookkeeper for the City of Milford, the Norwalk Board of Education (BOE) and the Diocese of Bridgeport. She worked concurrently at the Norwalk BOE and the Diocese of Bridgeport as was typical for Ann who juggled multiple jobs at the same time. Ann was an avid cook with the tv channels set to cooking shows and the bookshelf filled with recipes.

Survivors include her husband Greg Dunn of Trumbull to whom she was married 38 years. Her children included Bryan of Medford MA, Brendan of Boston, Katelyn of New Haven and Matthew of Trumbull. Ann's sisters are Judith Metzger, Christine Libuha and Kasey Libuha all of Florida. Ann was predeceased by her brother John "Jack" Libuha Jr. formerly of Lyme CT. Nephews include Robert "RJ" Metzger of Chicago and James "Jimmy" Metzger of Stamford CT. Nieces include Kristen Metzger of FL and Lisa Libuha of CA. Ann was predeceased by her parents, Ann Kotenski Libuha and John Libuha Sr. both of Ansonia CT. She was predeceased by her aunt Mary Libuha Bujanauskas of Ansonia. Anns first cousins include Jane Pogoda of Fairfield, Stanley Bujanauskas of Oxford, Paul Bujanauskas of Falls Church VA and Carol Bujanauskas of Ansonia.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday June 26, 2025 at 11 AM at St. Theresa Church, 5301 Main Street, Trumbull. Interment will follow in St. Michaels Cemetery, Derby. Relatives and friends may greet the family on Wednesday June 25th from 4-7 pm in Abriola Parkview Funeral Home 419 White Plains Road Trumbull. Words of remembrance will be shared at 6:30 pm. To leave an online condolence visit www.abriola.com.

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What A Wonderful World It Would Be

There’s 5 components to my eulogy concerning Ann. They say in writing and public speaking, always have an outline to keep both yourself and your listeners and readers on track. So here’s my 5 components: Friend---Wife---Mother---Co-worker---Patriot

Friend

Ann was a dear friend to those she grew up with her in The Valley and high school. In today’s mobile society and the superficiality of social media, she embodied what it means to be “a friend”. Accompanying Ann to gatherings with her girlfriends on New Years Eve, Memorial Day, 4^th of July fireworks and Labor Day was an honor for me to tag along having fun and laughs. It’s a testament to her stubborn loyalty and love for those closest to her. She shared the good times and sad times whether it meant being a listener, advisor or supporter. It’s a living testimony of what it means to be a friend and it’s a lesson we ALL can learn from.

Wife

38 years of marriage, 3 pregnancy’s and 4 children. That’s not a typo. If you are doing the math, there were twins in that mix. Those were wonderful years grounded by mutual respect and a healthy dose of humor. Just one example of how humor infused our relationship was the time we had to decide what would be our wedding theme songs. She liked the Rolling Stones (as do I) and her favorite song was “You can’t always get what you wanna but if you try sometimes, you get what you need”. To this I said…really that’s your song with those lyrics? How’s that supposed to make me feel? So… I got back at her by picking the song “Love Stinks” by J. Gilles. Marriage is all about compromise and patience. Example: When we moved into our Trumbull house 25 years ago, I made the mistake of arriving with the movers ahead of Ann’s arrival. So… when they asked how to organize the stuff in the basement (and there was a lot of stuff), I told them to form aisles at right angles like seen at Walmart. Ann arrived and notified the movers that she wanted aisles at horizontal angles. The rest of the day, the movers treated me with respect but they knew where the power source was and who to take direction from. And so it is with marriage.

 In this day and age of non-commitment and “me first”, Ann provided a roadmap for what it means to be married. Now we DID have our secrets. She had a bad habit of coming back from tag sales sneaking stuff in the front door. My secret is that I brought a lot of that “stuff” out the back door. And speaking of “stuff”, my Catholic upbringing defined heaven as an “infinite space in the presence of God in a state of total love and peace”. I’m glad heaven is BIG since wherever Ann goes (and I have no doubt that it’s to heaven), there has to be plenty of room for all her “stuff”.  

Mother

This is the category of the most lasting legacy. All the categories are important but this is the one that both I and my kids are the most touched by and proud of. It is here that she instilled a firm yet fair and loving environment where there were unspoked but well understood expectations of responsibilities concerning behaviors, goals and life skills. There was no sit-downs and lectures about such matters or the Golden Rule. It was just infused into everyday life. And speaking of everyday life, it was certainly a hectic one, rushing here and there to soccer practices, soccer matches (in and outside the state), Mothers-Of-Twins meetings/events of which Ann was a proud and dependable member. We were always running late for everything and heard the expression “hurry up we’re late” so many times that we thought that was just one giant word.

Co-Worker

Ann often worked 2 jobs concurrently and at every job she gave it her all. Case in point, she worked at every job up to almost her delivery dates. In this way, she was much like her mother (whom she was very close to her entire life, she loved her dad but there was a special bond between her and her mom who worked years at an evening shift in a factory while holding down responsibilities of raising a family). My sense was that her most enriching years in the workforce was in the video-film-production industry. She took great pride in the fact that her daughter entered that field as well as pride in the fact that her 3 sons are hard-working and established in their careers. In her later career years, while she was a bookkeeper, I frequently told her how I could NEVER do her job. Math was not my strong point. During the pandemic while we were working from home in the living room, I saw how she was like a detective figuring out where a missing 5 dollars might have gone. I offered to donate 5 dollars to balance out the account. She noted that she could NEVER have been a mall cop so we agreed that it’s best to stick to our strengths.

Patriot

Last but not least, Ann was a patriot. Neither she or I served in Vietnam. We both missed that draft by 1 year. In retrospect, lucky for both of us. There are some stories that I can share to demonstrate her patriotism. She mentioned that when she was a little kid in the early 1960’s on one of the family trips down South she saw the signs “Colored’s Only” and even as a little kid she remembered recalling “that’s not right”. Fast forward to a trip she took with a girlfriend to a Caribbean location and she discussed with some Australian tourists a coup (one of many) the USA was supporting in Latin America.  Ann always mentioned how that point in her life when she lost a sense of innocence concerning the USA mucking around overseas. It made her relate to the phrase…” Patriotism is supporting my country ALL the time and supporting my government ONLY when they deserve it”. She was able to travel to Poland with her aunt and mother to visit relatives back when Poland was under communist rule. She described how her relatives would turn down the shades and close the windows when discussing politics because they said “the walls have ears and nobody can be trusted. The Zomma (secret police) are everywhere”. Ann said visiting communist Poland gave her an appreciation for being an American and she credited her grandfather for emigrating. She travelled on a tour bus that went to the Auschwitz concentration camp. On the way to the camp, the bus riders were chatty and jovial. On the way back, dead silence. She recounted horrific stories and pledged to NEVER allow that to occur here in America.

In sum, Ann did not have a mean bone in her body and certainly had a big heart. Which is ironic since she suffered for over two years with bone cancer and it was that big heart of hers that finally gave out. She and I enjoyed many songs and one of our favorites was the one sung by the late Luis Armstrong titled “What a Wonderful World”. Got me to thinking, if we had more persons like Ann as friends, wives, mothers, co-workers and patriots…..What A Wonderful World It Would Be

Greg Dunn