Ann was the youngest child of James Quinlivan and Ann Crerar. Her mother died when she was only two days old. She often told how her father and brothers and sisters spoiled her because she never had a mother. Several of her mother's Scottish relatives (the Crerars), who had money and large farms, kept an eye on the upbringing of little Anne, and she was always very proud of her Scottish blood. (Many of the Crerars became important in Canadian politics and the military. General D.G. Crerar "the most distinguished military leader in Canada's history" [newspaper quote]. But the Crerars were 'black Presbyterians' and James Quinlivan had brought up his family to be Catholic. So Ann was educated by nuns in a convent, and she learned the 'lady-like' arts of sewing and mending, as well as poetry and history. All her life she loved books and the drama, and even years later, when she had seven children around her, she took part in home talent plays and encouraged everyone to learn beautiful poems and songs.

On their 25th wedding anniversary, Valentine's Day 1907, all the children were home. The girls cut out hundreds of red valentines and the boys strung them all through the house. They had an 'open house' with friends coming from the town and country.

Ann played "Florence Nightengale" to the whole town of Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. Anyone who was sick could call on her. Her good Scottish friend, Dr. Rae, called on her when someone needed care. She always had a whimsical outlook on her cases. On one occasion, she and Dr. Rae had been with a woman that had given premature birth to twins. Ann told the family that the doctor had said, "Now we might save these babies if we had an incubator, but now . . ." So Ann warmed up the stove's oven, put the two babies in, and kep them alive. She could never understand it when her children would show fear about death. "Oh! What's so different and awful about dying?" she'd ask. "At birth you're just coming in to one world, and at death you're just going in to another. No," she'd add, "don't be afraid of the dead. It's the living you have to keep your eye on." She made a little extra money with her nursing, but most of it was just charity.