Mary Anne Kluttz Ammons

Mary Anne Kluttz Ammons, of Fletcher NC, went home to be with her Lord on Sunday, March 8, 2025. She passed peacefully, in her sleep.

In 2019, Anne suffered a fall that caused a subdural hematoma, which left her wheelchair bound, without the use of her limbs and unable to speak. She was preceded in death be her parents, Johnnie A. Kluttz and Mary Ellen Kluttz, both of Haw River, NC.

Anne, as she was called by her family, is survived by her husband, Bill Ammons; her sons, Christopher Ammons (his wife, Anne Neal and their son, Booker) of East Nashville, TN and Jonathan Ammons (his fiancée, Clare Winkler); two brothers, Allen Kluttz (his wife, Pat) of Kernersville, NC and Jeff Kluttz; niece, Alana Charlton (her husband, Brett) of Mountain Home, NC; great nieces and nephews, Lilly, Jack, Aleck and Abby Charlton of Holly Springs, NC and McCoy Kluttz of Mountain Home, NC, as well as many cousins living throughout North and South Carolina.

Anne was born in Winston-Salem, NC and grew up in Clemmons, NC, graduating from West Forsyth High School in 1967. She then enrolled at Montreat College, where she met her “husband to be”, Bill. They met on the first week of college, when Bill says he saw her walking across the cafeteria and asked the friend he was sitting with, “who is that girl”? Shortly thereafter they began dating, Bill says that he fell in love with her that first day. The next year, after their sophomore year, Anne and Bill married that summer and they transferred to UNC-A. With them both working part-time and attending college, they began their married life, in a little rented house in Royal Pines. In their first week in the little house, a gentleman, who was taking his afternoon walk, came up into their yard and introduced himself as the Reverend Ed Graham, from Arden Presbyterian Church, which was directly across Hendersonville Road from their house. After a brief chat, he invited the Ammons’ to come and visit the church, the next Sunday, which they did, and they kept attending, and became members of Arden Presbyterian, where they remained for the past 55 years.

Anne and Bill became active, as a team, in the activities of the church, from the very beginning. Their first assignment was teaching first grade Sunday School, which they did for three years. This was followed by five years as team leaders of middle school youth group. When Bill was elected Deacon, they ended their middle school youth group assignment and Anne became active in the “Women of the Church”, where she helped with preparation of church dinners, collecting and putting together gifts for “Operation Christmas Child”, as well as the “Shoe Box Ministry” providing presents for children whose parents were serving time in prison. She and Bill assisted with Arden Presbyterian’s annual Christmas Musical each year for more years than they could count. Bill went on to serve two terms as Elder and Anne continued to serve in the many ministries that she had served in the past.

Years later, Anne was diagnosed with a baseball sized malignant brain tumor, after the doctors here in Asheville told Anne that she only has between 3 and 13 months to live, Anne and Bill traveled to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX to seek out possible treatment options. They chose to do a clinical trial, consisting of 6 weeks of daily radiation, followed by 12 months of 5 different chemo drugs, taken orally, with which she defeated the cancer. Following the conclusion of her cancer treatment, she and Bill would travel back to MD Anderson every 6 months for 15 years for tests and scans to see if the cancer had returned and it never did! During these 15 years, Anne became an ambassador for MD Anderson, which involved her receiving phone calls from cancer patients from all over the nation, who were dealing with cancer and looking for viable treatments. She would speak with them about her experiences in dealing with the cancer and its treatments, and specifically answering their questions regarding receiving treatment at MD Anderson. She would also advise patients regarding navigation of the many helps and and unpublished, adjunct services that MD Anderson has available for patients to utilize, if they are aware of them. These patients frequently kept in touch with Anne for the whole time they were receiving treatments, often for many years. During this same time, Anne helped Arden Presbyterian start a cancer care support group, called Hands Of Faith. This was a group of church members who enthusiastically provided for other members who were undergoing cancer treatment. The group emails and phones patients, learning of their needs, providing them with transportation to treatment appointments, sending them encouraging cards, making arrangements for delivered meals, calling and praying with them, encouraging them and letting them know that they are loved.

She continued her participation in Hands Of Faith until the fall of 2019. One of the things that she enjoyed as part of her participation in the group was sending encouraging cards. She always made sure that she sent a card each week to everyone on the Hands Of Faith list. Additionally, she also made sure to send cards to all of the Arden Presbyterian Church members who were on their general prayer list in the previous week’s bulletin. She sent around 1000 cards each year.

Anne has always had the heart of a care giver. Shortly after she and Bill were married, her younger brother was in a terrible auto accident in which he went through the windshield of his friend’s car, suffering a broken jaw with significant facial injuries and had to have his mouth wired shut. Anne’s Mom was so traumatized by the accident that she was not comfortable caring for him alone. Anne rode the bus from Asheville to Haw River, NC and nursed her brother back to health for about 6 weeks, until the stitches were removed from his jaw and he could eat solid food again. About 12 years later, she took care of her Mom after she underwent extreme oral surgery that required about 6 weeks of recovery. She always attended to her loved ones with such tenderness and attention and saw it as her responsibility to care for her family.

Anne was the essence of kindness, love and devotion, a wonderful and loving wife to her husband of 56 years, a nurturing mother to her children, Christopher and Jonathan, and a doting “Mimi” to her grandson, Booker. She strove to bring up her family in the fear and admonition of the Lord. She has always been a woman of prayer. When the children were in elementary and middle school, she and several other women in the church began a prayer group which prayed for their children each week. The group was called “Moms In Touch” and was later renamed “Moms In Prayer”. That group is still active to this day, even though all of the ladies in the group now have grown children and those children now have children of their own.

Anne had a brilliant mind and when she, or members of her family encountered problems or issues that hey didn’t have the skills or talents to deal with, Anne would go to the library, do research, and educate herself, learning where to find the helps and resources which might be needed to help them with their situations, enabling them to overcome the problems or difficulties they were facing. When their oldest son was having difficulty with his school work and keeping up with his assignments, Anne and Bill took him to a psychologist who specialized in learning issues and had him tested to determine if he had learning deficits. The specialists found that he was dyslexic and had attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity. Anne decided, that day, that she would become proficient and educated regarding learning disabilities and that she would become an advocate for all learning-disable children, not just her own. She immersed herself in educational materials and helped to start a learning disabled program at her son’s school, Asheville Christian Academy. She subsequently became a member of the National Association of Learning Disabilities, where she took courses and continued to increase her knowledge about how to help these children. This turned out to be a great decision, because when their younger son entered grade school, they discovered that he had a greater level of attention deficit disorder, including hyperactivity. In addition to that, he was also diagnosed with hypoglycemia, which meant that the processes used to enable him to be able to learn effectively were more complex. Anne, with her kindness and patience was able to navigate the processes and programs and apply them to each of the boys to teach them how to learn successfully and eventually graduate from high school, after which they both met with success in college. She also helped several other schools in our area start their own programs for students with learning differences.

Anne’s cheerful spirit and her conscious ability to always see the bright side of things made her endearing to so many people. She was always encouraging and patient with her family and seemed to have the ability to ignore their transgressions and faults, especially with her husband who sometimes seemed to only keep his eye on the target, when he should have been keeping that eye on his wife and children’s needs. She was such a gracious, loving and forgiving soul.

A memorial service celebrating Anne’s life will be held starting at 3:00 PM on Saturday, March 29 in the Sanctuary of Arden Presbyterian Church, 2215 Hendersonville Road, Arden NC 28704. A reception for family and friends will begin at the church at 1:30 PM. In honoring Anne’s life, may we celebrate the love of Christ that she shared with all she met, and the joy that she brought to those who knew her, as well as the legacy of kindness that she leaves behind, for us to remember her by as she continues her new life in Glory.

In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests remembrances be made to the Hands Of Faith ministries at Arden Presbyterian Church.

Groce Funeral Home’s Lake Julian team is assisting the family.