Ann Wingert Williams ’84 – Distinguished Alumna 

On a summer day in the late ’70s, God intervened. It was registration day for incoming first-year Bennies and this year’s Distinguished Alumna Award winner, Ann Wingert Williams ’84, was dutifully enrolling in classes to begin her “business” major. That’s when Sister Firmin Escher walked in and called out, “Are there any music majors here?”  

“Me,” said Ann.  

She wasn’t on any of Sister Firmin’s lists, because she hadn’t auditioned, but she was suddenly determined to be a music major. Sister Firmin nodded and quickly gathered an impromptu group of music faculty and Ann auditioned. 

“I had a couple of arias in my back pocket, and I cranked them out,” she chuckles. “And I was a music major. I had almost nothing. The only training I’d received was from my high school choral experience. I didn’t even play the piano.” 

She dug in, worked hard, kept at least one business class to appease her dad (got a D in accounting) and got that music degree. Then she went on to earn her master’s. 

“Saint Ben’s embraced me as a young woman who didn’t know what she was going to do. And it was kind of divine,” she says. “I truly believe it was divine guidance.” 

That guidance led to 35 years in the public schools and one year in a parochial school. She taught K-6 elementary music as well as directing an audition choir for the Osseo schools. “That’s where things really started taking off,” she says. “I’m a choir geek.” 

She worked with elementary students and refined her pedagogies on how to get kids to sing properly and read music. She was very good at it and it formed a wonderful foundation for her. In fact, tools and curriculum she developed are still in place today in Osseo. But it’s not all she taught. 

“When you’re in a choir, you’re in a community,” she says. “You are a microcosm of the greater community. And any way you can enrich the community you are a part of, that’s what we do. 

“Yes, it’s all about music, but we try to make things different and fun. Personally, I have a bent toward service projects and getting kids into senior living facilities. That’s something I was brought up with from my own choir director. That was just part of what you did. If you have music in your life, you’re supposed to share it.” 

When COVID shutdowns hit, they hit Ann hard. “Can you imagine teaching music on Zoom? It was just horrific. And I thought, ‘I can retire with full pension.’ So I did. But it left me just empty. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my kids.” 

Clearly, retirement didn’t (yet) suit her. It was time for a little more divine intervention. She was scrolling through Facebook and saw the opening for a choir director with Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs. She’s currently director for their Con Brio Choir of grades 2 through 6, providing an advanced choral experience for talented youth and supplementing the musical training they’re offered in their school music programs. 

“I’m so happy right now,” she beams. “I’m living my best life, actually, right now.” 

Ann Wingert Williams has touched the lives of over 10,000 youth with her insights, talent and passion. She and the choirs she directs have been recognized multiple times for accomplishments on state and national levels. And it might not have played out this way if she hadn’t raised her voice to say, “Me.”