Please remember in your prayers Ann Molter of St. Thomas’ Child Development Center, who died Monday. Molter was the founding teacher of the Lightning Bolt preschool classroom. She gave the group their name when the center opened in July 1998.
“It is impossible to overstate the impact of Ann Molter’s work at the Child Development Center,” said Rebecca Swiler, director of the center. “For more than 18 years, Ann contributed to every element of the program.” Molter helped design and implement the program curriculum and classroom environments, helped develop policies and procedures, assisted in hiring and training professional staff and was a program leader in recruiting and mentoring student staff who were interested in early education.
“Most importantly, Ann made tremendous contributions to the center culture and sense of community by building warm, nurturing, respectful relationships with children, parents and staff,” Swiler said. “Ann’s creativity, wisdom and calm, gentle demeanor are stamped into every nook and cranny of the Child Development Center, and we plan to keep it that way for many years to come.”
“Ann touched my daughter’s life and mine as well,” said Kris Roach, whose daughter attended the center in the early 2000s. Roach is executive director of admissions and financial aid at St. Thomas. “She was a kind and loving teacher who really helped a little girl love her first 'school' experience and gave this mom assurance that her daughter was being very well cared for and loved. Even after my daughter 'graduated' from the Child Development Center, she would come back and visit Ann when she was on campus. My daughter plans to become a pediatric nurse. I can’t help but feel that her early experiences with Ann and the Child Development Center influenced that love of little ones.”
Molter was on a leave of absence since September 2015 and stayed actively involved with the center.
She is survived by her husband, Michael; three daughters: Carey, Cristy and Mary; siblings Mary Alice Doyle and Mathew Doyle; three granddaughters and several nieces and nephews.
Visitation was held from 4-8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at Evans-Nordby Funeral Home, 34 2nd St. NE, Osseo, Minnesota. Mass of Christian Burial was held at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at the Church of St. Vincent de Paul, 9100 93rd Ave. N., Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.
Read her obituary online.
