Anne Emma Oliver

It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I announce that an era has ended with the passing of our beautiful and loving matriarch, Anne Emma (Desilets) Oliver on April 15, 2026 in Scottsdale AZ. At the age of 94, she left with no regrets having lived a full, long, and happy life with the love of her life, her husband Joe, and raising their five strong children! Joe and Anne, “They had it all!”

Anne was born in Providence, Rhode Island, February 25, 1932 and grew up in Warwick, RI with her younger brother Paul R. Desilets. Their parents were Paul Ovie Desilets and Anna Lillian Dunford. She graduated from Nelson W. Aldrich High School and completed a year of teacher education at Rhode Island College.

She met the love of her life, Joseph E. Oliver, on a blind date. They eventually married and raised their children in the round house they built by Waterman’s Lake in Harmony, RI. She was the best mother to her five strong children!

Anne loved politics. She believed in children’s education, fairness for all working people, and was a dedicated and proud Democrat. Anne hosted all the Democratic meetings, rallies, and parades in her home town. She walked as a woman’s suffragette in the parades. She vigorously supported her democratic team while also running for office in Chepachet, RI in the early 70’s. Although every member of her team was successfully elected to office, she sadly was not. However, she did become the tax collector for Gloucester, RI.

Her dedication to children’s health and education was evident as the head of diagnostics at RI’s Child Find Program where she championed a team to screen preschool and school-aged children to ensure a successful placement and appropriate resources and learning environments. Her home was a refuge to the neighborhood children, looking for kindness and support.

Anne continued in her path of civic duty after the entire clan relocated to Phoenix, Arizona where she was the Maricopa County Supervisor of Adult Probation. She joined her husband, Joe, on the Sky Harbor Balloon team and featured as an extra in 3 movies. Family remained a strong inspiration as Anne and Joe moved to California to support their youngest as she started her family before returning to Phoenix, AZ.

Family was most important to Anne. She will be dearly missed by sons, Raymond and Paul Oliver, daughter Ann Marie Mahrenholz and their spouses, 10 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, and 6 great-great-grandchildren. She joins her husband, Joseph Edward Oliver and sons, Joseph Paul and Michael James in heaven.