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Anna LoBianco ’92

A picture of Anna Lobianco

Anna LoBianco ’92, June 29, 2006, in New York City, from breast cancer. Anna received a BA from Reed in English. For several years following graduation, she lived in Portland, working as a youth counselor, playing guitar in the Reed psycho-rock band Lovebutt, training as a martial artist and self-defense instructor, and mentoring her beloved, crazy mutt, Puppa. She also worked in a Portland public elementary school classroom, assisting children with behavioral problems, before returning to her hometown, New York City. After earning a master’s degree in education from Bank Street College of Education, she took a position as a special-education high school teacher in Harlem. Informally voted “strictest teacher,” Anna spent extensive after-school hours, focused on resolving her students’ academic and personal issues, and received, in return, their love and devotion. After becoming a mother, she worked for Bank Street College and also as a trainer for All Kinds of Minds. Family and friends—including Hannah Demeritt ’92, who provided the details of this memorial—assert that while Anna's dedication to others may be somewhat understood in this brief recounting of her life, “her inimitable personality, for which she will undoubtedly be remembered, and for which is already so sorely missed, is difficult to describe: self-assured, bold, bewitching; generous, principled, driven; zestful, passionate, loving love.” Anna is survived by her common-law husband, Bolivar Avila, and their two children, Dario and Ruby; and her mother, father, and two sisters.

Appeared in Reed magazine: May 2007