Let’s celebrate Anne’s life! Please contribute to the Anne Niehous Hope Scholarship

Thank you for coming to the site where we celebrate Anne’s life, and work to provide help to others in need, using her as our inspiration. So many people struggle today in many ways. Anne understood this and fought hard for recovery toward the end of her life. We are grateful to partner with the Emerald School of Excellence in honoring Anne through this Scholarship. We decided that this was the best way to honor her life and provide others with a place where they could prosper and grow. There were no Recovery High Schools while our kids were maturing and making decisions; however, we do believe Anne would have prospered within this environment. We all have to make decisions in regards to what we believe in and what we want to support. There are many worthy causes in the world today and we hope that you will consider contributing to the Anne Niehous Hope Scholarship now and in the future.

A little about Anne:

Anne was born on April 29, 1995 in The Woodlands, TX. She was a beautiful child full of joy with a calm demeanor. She also lived in Williamsburg, VA, Carmel, IN, Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA and Austin, TX. Although moving frequently causes some challenges, Anne was able to develop many close friendships along the way. She passed away on December 26, 2021, and is now rejoicing in Heaven with Jesus.

Anne had a playful spirit early on that most likely led to her sense of humor. She always wanted to be out with her friends and they spent hours enjoying fun activities. They rigged up trampolines with sprinklers, and built a creative Horror Trail in our back yard and invited all of their friends and neighbors to come and experience the thrill. Anne loved skiing even though her ability to stop on a hill was not always the best, causing her father several fearful moments. She loved to dance and sing with her friends and often made some hilarious videos of them together.

Many of those friends reached out expressing their memories and love for Anne along with recalling the times she helped them when they needed it most. Comments included: “I recall a woman with the greatest sense of humor”; and, “Anne possessed an adventurous, fun & spontaneous spirit”; “the funniest person I ever met”; “never judged and accepted me as I was”. Bright, kind, honest, strong, generous, loving, and vivacious are other superlatives that have been used to describe Anne.

Early on Anne developed an artistic trend. She loved all artmaking, was frequently seen drawing, and we frequently drew pictures together in which we took turns adding images to the scenes. Anne was a strong soccer player through 9th grade and her specialty was Mid-fielder. She loved music and nature. Along with drawing, she could be found crafting pottery, making recipe books, playing the piano, and devising playful contraptions for her pets. Her love of animals included ownership of dogs, guinea pigs and even a couple of ducks. Dale, her Labradoodle whom she rescued from the Austin, TX Humane Society, was her sidekick and constant companion over the last year and a half. The two developed a bond as Anne loved taking him to parks. Anne often said that “We rescued each other”.

As we all know, life can take many twists and turns, and Anne had challenges along the way. She faced these challenges the best way she could and strived to move on. Through the help of her parents, family, friends, professionals, and several strangers that popped up along the road (angels in a sense) she was able to move forward. Through it all, she maintained her sense of humor and her love for her family and friends. Many people provided unfaltering love and total support.

During her Memorial, we remembered the various gifts that Anne possessed:

The Gift of Serenity

From a young age, Anne possessed an “innate sense” of peacefulness. We distinctly remember her exuding a calm, spirit-like demeanor when we were frustrated or down – and she encouraged us to pause, breathe, meditate, or do yoga.

The Gift of Art

Always “artsy”, from a young age Anne loved to sing, dance around and make art, and she held that creative bent throughout her life. On family ski trips, at some point you could find Anne in the Lodge drawing, much to the chagrin of her Dad to whom every minute on the slopes was precious.

The Gift of Wonder & Exploration

The natural world was loved by Anne – on trips to VA every summer to visit her grandparents and family there, Anne caught baby crabs in the river and went fishing on her Paw Paw’s boat.

The Gift of Spiritual Connectedness

She was a member of the Catholic Church in Carmel and in Charlotte, being confirmed in the Church. Attending Charlotte Christian in the 9th grade, Anne was introduced to Evangelical Christianity; and, our family at this time began attending Matthews United Methodist Church. During high school and as a young adult, Anne explored Buddhism to a great degree, studying chakras, meditation, and all its beliefs. In the past few years, her mother shared scripture almost daily with Anne, encouraging her, and she was receptive. Recently she attended Church in Austin. We know that God is a loving, merciful Father and cling to the hope that Anne is rejoicing with Him in heaven.

The Gift of Friendship

Anne developed beautiful friendships during the seasons of her life. A dear friend from Carmel shared, “Anne was a beautiful person and our friendship was instantaneous when she moved into the neighborhood”. Another stated, “Anne rarely showed emotion, but in the little glimpses she did show me I came to understand her love for her family. She told me that she had a wonderful childhood with good friends. She was surrounded by love. Anne was never ashamed to admit when she messed up…she was never ashamed to be herself. She showed me that it’s good to embrace our flaws and who we ARE…and she showed me what true love was in a friend.”

The Gift of Intellect

Anne was smart, insightful, and inquisitive. She was accepted into four Universities, eventually entering Belmont University in Nashville. Later, while living in Atlanta and encouraged by her counselor, she again pursued a college degree, and was close to completing her Associate Degree with the ambition of continuing her education and going into nursing or the health sciences. Anne was very proud that she had a straight-A average; we were happy and proud for her!

The Gift of Humor

Comments have flooded in about Anne’s sense of humor: “The funniest person I ever met”; “Anne always knew how to talk me off the ledge with laughter”; “Anne possessed a wicked sense of humor”. Anne shared with a friend how funny her brother, Michael, was, and how she would get her jokes from him. However, we also came to understand that Anne used humor and sarcasm at times to deflect what was going on in her life.

The Gift of Love

We know Anne loved us and we loved her unconditionally. She knew without a doubt that we loved her. Anne was a beautiful friend with lots of love given to others, her family and her pets.

Anne understood the importance of recovery in learning to live a healthy life without substance use. She would be proud of this Scholarship! Thank you for joining our family in supporting recovery through the Emerald School of Excellence. We give thanks for Anne’s life and find comfort in knowing her spirit will live on by allowing students to prosper in the recovery school environment.

Never Give up… Always have hope!

Craig, Nancy and Michael Niehous

To learn more about Emerald School of Excellence, visit emeraldschool.org