Streaks Alumni Profile- Ann Conover 1976

Today’s Streaks Alumni Profile features Ann Conover from the GHS Class of 1976. 

Ann was a top student at GHS and one of the pioneers in girls sports at GHS. She was a member of the field hockey team in the fall of 1975 that upset undefeated New Trier East in an overtime shootout on the Streaks way to finishing third in State. Ann was one of the two players who made the shot in the sudden death OT. She also advanced to State in track, and was only the third GHS girl to do that. 

Ann has gone onto have an impressive career in medicine and just recently has retired. 

Favorite Teachers/Classes

I loved a cappella choir. I also loved biology and chemistry classes. 

Joe Patterson and Hal Devore co-taught a social studies class that was fascinating. They really challenged us, and questioned our ideals, and what was important to us. 

Sports /Activities

I was in rhetoric, and I actually went to some competitions where I would recite poetry, a cappella choir. I was a class officer.

Track, went to State in the mile. 

Basketball, 3 years

Field Hockey, when we went to State. 

Best Memories Growing Up in Galesburg & Going to GHS

I would go everywhere in my bicycle. I was never afraid of people or strangers. I rode weekly to the library during the summer, and would take a ton of books. I would check them out and put them in my basket on my bike. I was a voracious reader. I remember being outdoors almost all the time. 

Halloween was one of my favorite times. We would trick or treat for hours, and when we would use pillowcases because those wouldn’t tear like a bag. We would fill those things up incredibly full. 

There was a street right down from my house where they would actually close the street when we had a big snowfall, and all of us would go sledding down that street. It was so cold, and we would get so wet, but we loved it. We did that for hours. 

In the summer, I can remember fireflies all over the place. In the summer evenings my mom would sit out on the porch and neighbors would stop by and sit, and they would talk. All the kids, including myself, were playing outside in the front yard. 

I learned to swim in a lake at Lake Soangetaha. I was taught by Harley Knosher, who later, I think, was a coach for Knox. 

As far as memories from Galesburg High itself, I loved going to the boys' basketball games, and also to the football games. 

At GHS, the transition was difficult at first. I had gone to Costa Catholic School since first grade, and we had to go to GHS for high school. We had a very small class. We were extremely close knit. GHS just seemed absolutely huge and pretty overwhelming. 

I had several different groups of friends, some were my sports friends, and some were just regular friends. I studied really hard, and I actually liked it. I liked learning. 

I remember there was a pizza place, and they had a sauerkraut, ham, and pineapple pizza. We would go there and eat the pizza. 

When I played sports at Gelsburg High, it was a really big deal when we got yellow, high top tennis shoes for basketball, and we all got matching shoes, and then the other thing I remember was when we played field hockey, I actually got a set of pleats. 

Education After GHS

After I finished high school, I attended Creighton University and got a BS in biology. I went to medical school at Creighton for four years. 

So I was there a total of eight years, and then I did a medical residency in anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic. I stayed on staff for a year, and then I moved to Topeka, Kansas, where some friends of mine were setting up an anesthesia group, and I worked there for about five or six years. 

I worked in Topeka, Kansas, at St. Francis Hospital as an anesthesiologist.  I actually was the chairperson of the department for one year.

I went back to school, and I did a one year long pediatric anesthesia fellowship to subspecialize in pediatric anesthesia at the University of Washington, the Children's Hospital in Seattle, Washington. 

I moved to Kansas City, and I worked at Children's Mercy Hospital as a pediatric anesthesiologist for about 28 years. I retired for a little while in 2023, but then went back to work in September of 2024. 

In 2023, I got kind of restless, and I was going to build a home, a barn, with horses, in Kansas City, but when I got close, I wasn't that excited about it. I actually moved up to the mountains of North Carolina. That's where I live now. 

After not working for about a year, I really missed work, and since September of 2024, every month, I travel to Oklahoma City and work at the Oklahoma Children's Hospital for two weeks, providing pediatric anesthesia, and then I go back home to North Carolina for two weeks. I will be done with that as of July 31st. 

Today

I have ridden horses for years. In retirement I plan to ride almost every day. I will go to obedience classes with my puppy dog. 

I would like to learn Spanish. I have an acoustic guitar that I would like to learn to play, and I plan on taking lessons. At Michael's Craft Shop they have a clearance table, and for the last couple of years I have been buying anything that's on the clearance table from origami kits to calligraphy to paint by number, and I want to do some of that as well. And reading, of course, I absolutely love reading. 

Advice for Today’s Students/Athletes

I would tell them to strive for work-life balance. I actually probably gave too much of my life to my work, even though I love my professional career. 

The most important thing in life is your connections with other people. And I think that is what people have when they get older, and it's what keeps us going. 

Find an occupation that you enjoy. I think education, even going to college for a year, expands all your horizons and opens up how big the world is and how many different people there are. So I think education is important. I also think there are plenty of careers, such as plumbers and mechanics that will be needed for many, many years, and college is not essential. 

In your life, try to live in moderation, and the things you do and what you eat, and how you take care of your body. 

Don't put yourself in a box. We all tend to see ourselves, perhaps, as other people see us, and then, as we get older, it's really hard to change, and to kind of get out of what I call get out of the box. So, go ahead and change who you are. 

Resilience is the most important attribute we can have. You will make mistakes, and you will have regrets, but pick yourself up. You can be sad for a while, and then if you're going to have a good life, you need to get back up and going again. 

If there are negative people in your life, whether they're friends, when you recognize that pact, then I think you need to get rid of them. We need to surround ourselves with positive people. 

We also need to surround ourselves with people that are different than us, who have different ideas that challenge us. And it's really easy to fall into a group of people where you all get along because you all believe the same thing. And I think over time, you can really stagnate. 

I also believe that mentors play a tremendous part in all of our lives. And I hope that everyone has at least one mentor or mentors, and it can be a family member, it could be a friend, it could be someone from school, a coach, a teacher. But I think we need someone other than our family to believe in us, and to support us. and tell us that we're okay. 
And finally, as I stand on the verge of retirement, the most important thing is to have as many life experiences as you can. My mom loved to be 95, and she told me that when she was 95, and she couldn't do things physically, she could think about all the wonderful things she got to do during her life. I have that same attitude, and I think exposure to new things, to travel, is extremely important. 

And finally, using social media and tech is an integral part of people's lives now. But everyone needs to have some quiet time, and everyone needs to spend some time outdoors. I think that rejuvenates me more than anything else.