Have more fun. That was the golden rule for Anne McMullan and lifelong friend Ashley Howard when they decided last August to once again take up traveling together.
Since their birthdays are about a week apart and they were both about to turn 50, the pair set out to see the world in an effort to turn back the hands of time, Howard said.
“I just said, ‘You know, we need to have more fun,’ ” Howard said. “We wanted to reignite our love for travel and recapture our youth.”
Enjoyment wasn’t something McMullan lacked. She was always full of life and laughter, and her vivacious personality made her the center of fun. While she didn’t have children of her own, she adored her niece, nephews and young cousins, and was always known as a “fun aunt,” said her brother Ted McMullan.
“She was the aunt who would show up with bubbles and sparklers,” he said with a laugh. “And not just a little bottle – she’d bring a bubble gun or something. She liked to go over the top with everything she did.”
Anne Frances McMullan, of Atlanta, died April 10 from a brain hemorrhage she suffered while traveling in Marbella, Spain. She was 50.
Her memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church, followed by a visitation in the church’s fellowship hall. McKoon Funeral Home & Crematory in Newnan was in charge of cremation arrangements.
Growing up in a family that traveled often, staying in one place for too long just wasn’t in Anne McMullan’s nature. By the time she graduated from high school, she’d been everywhere from the Bahamas to Europe, and had even spent a year living and attending school in Northern Greece with Howard’s family.
In the fall of 1982, McMullan attended in The University of Georgia, where she and Howard enrolled in the school’s study-abroad program and spent three months in Spain, visiting cities such as Valencia and Barcelona.
She left UGA and transferred to Georgia State University, from which she graduated cum laude with a degree in hospitality management. After graduation, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she attended the Culinary Institute of Washington and catered for executive events at the Smithsonian Institute. It was here that her hardworking disposition and outgoing personality flourished, her brother said.
“Catering and food service is hard work, and she really excelled at it,” he said. “She loved interacting with people and preparing food.”
McMullan soon moved from Washington to Coconut Grove, Fla., where she lived and catered until she moved back to Atlanta in the late 1990s. She continued to cater for corporate events and put a pause on her traveling until August of last year.
This last vacation to Marbella, Spain, was the last trip McMullan ever took. She had an insatiable desire to see the world’s true beauty, and her last adventure to the top of a beautiful Spanish mountain was the perfect end to a perfect day, Howard said.
“She had always wanted to seek out activities and ways to find beauty,” she said. “And her last final day on Earth was spent at the most beautiful place in the world.”
In addition to her brother Ted, McMullan is survived by her parents, John Francis and Marilyn Memory McMullan, both of Druid Hills; another brother, Thomas Leverette McMullan of Atlanta; and one sister, Jane Memory McMullan of Atlanta.
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