Anne St. Germaine, 84

Dr. Elizabeth Anne St. Germaine
January 10, 1941 – April 23, 2025

Anne St. Germaine, of Freeland, WA, passed away peacefully with family at her side on April 23, 2025.  She was 84.  We will hold dearly our memories of her sweet spirit and patient heart.

Anne was born in Wareham, MA, to Alfred and Yvonne Virgina Beauchemin.  She held warm remembrances of a childhood spent outdoors and sailing with her siblings on Buzzard’s Bay.  She graduated from Wareham High School a year early, having been accepted as an “early admission” into Mount Holyoke College.  Never one to sidestep a challenge, she added Harvard summer school to complete courses in organic chemistry and human genetics.  She combined a BS degree in Biology from Mount Holyoke with a nursing degree from the Hartford Hospital School of Nursing, and graduated from both in 1964. 

In 1962, she married Jerry St. Germaine.  And while the marriage ended in divorce twelve years later, they had three children, who were the center of Anne’s world.

Anne added “Pediatric Nurse Practitioner” to her credentials in 1969, and helped found the first school-based health center in the country in the early seventies at Cambridge High and Latin School.  With a passion for making a difference in the world, she moved to Minnesota in 1978 to become a fellow in the Adolescent Health Training Program at the University of Minnesota.  There, she completed a master’s degree in Public Health and a PhD in Healthcare Administration, also serving on the faculty of the training program where she had been a fellow.

She took a position with Minneapolis Schools to direct their school-based clinic program, and was so successful at leveraging community and public resources for kids that she was aggressively recruited to Washington State to direct the school health program for Seattle Schools.  In this role, she expanded the use of school nursing for special needs children and created systems and staffing ratios that became national standards in the field. 

She retired to Whidbey Island, WA in 2005, where she could garden to her heart’s content and where she continued to keep the household running for her commuting wife, and care for her aged father-in-law.  She loved tending the one-acre property and was often seen whizzing by on her riding mower to attend to one outdoor task or another.  She was also famous for taking the small grandchildren endlessly around the yard on her large mobility scooter so they could appreciate every tiny aspect of nature – cows, horses, dandelions, cherry blossoms, fir trees, and ladybugs.

Despite her advanced degrees and contributions to the field of child health, Anne will be most remembered for her open and accepting heart.  Anyone who has had even a conversation with her will remember her compassionate listening and her wise responses.  She was the appreciator-in-chief, and could find just the comment or observation that made a person feel valued and seen.  She had a ready sense of humor and appreciated playfulness tremendously. She loved music of all kinds and, true to form, had several spreadsheets categorizing songs so she could choose her morning music wisely.

She is survived by her wife and partner of forty-one years, Kate Bracy, of Freeland, WA; brother Michael Beauchemin of Spring Hill, FL; daughter Christina St. Germaine-Allen (Sam) of Weippe, ID, daughter Kathryn St. Germaine Pacholl (Tom) of Flagstaff, AZ, son, Andy St. Germaine (Chris Olson) of Exeland, WI, Stepdaughter Lynne Hunsaker (Paul) of Freeland, WA, Stepdaughter Micah Kalb of Clinton, WA.  She will be missed by sister-in-law Georgia Beauchemin of Lyn Haven, FL, sister-in-law Barbie Hunter (Alan) of Marion, MA, brother-in-law Robert Bracy, of Ogdensburg, NY and sister-in-law Lisa Griffith (Lee), also of Ogdensburg.  Anne will be remembered by nephew Gage Beauchemin (Brooke) of Vacaville, CA, niece Cyrette BeaucheminSmith (Chris) of Granite Bay, CA, niece Dawn Hunter (John) of Taunton, MA, and nephew Alan Hunter. She leaves behind grandchildren Natalie Lynn Pulczinski, Alex Kuykendall, Matthew St. Germaine, Elysha Farrah, Carter Kalb, Silas Hunsaker and Eleanore Hunsaker.  Her many cousins in Massachusetts will grieve her as well.

Anne is predeceased by her parents, brother Fred Beauchemin and sister Sally Beauchemin.

Plans for a celebration of her life are pending, as family members make decisions.

We send her to the great unknown with big love, aching hearts, and enormous regard.