Ann Wigmore

Ann Wigmore

Ann Wigmore (1909 – 1994) was a Lithuanian–American "holistic health" practitioner, nutritionist, whole foods advocate, author, and doctor of Divinity. Wigmore wrote several books on her theories and lectured widely to promote her practices.

On February 16, 1994, Wigmore died of smoke inhalation from a fire that destroyed the Boston site of the original Hippocrates Health Institute.

Today, her methods are still being promoted in Puerto Rico at the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute, in Florida at the Hippocrates Health Institute and in various other "alternative medicine" resorts.

Early life

Wigmore was born Anna Marie Warapicki in Lithuania on March 4, 1909 to Antanas (1877-1959) and Anna (1882-?) Warapicki. Antanas emigrated to America in 1908, settling in Middleboro, Massachusetts, where he first worked as a laborer in a shoe manufacturing company,[1] then later as a truck driver for a bakery[2] during Wigmore's American teen-age years. Anna followed her husband five years later, aboard the ship Erlangen, arriving at Ellis Island on June 16, 1913. After World War I, Anna Marie, then 13, and her brother, Mykola, age 15, (both surnames erroneously entered on the ship's passenger log as "Varapickis") accompanied by an uncle, arrived at Ellis Island on December 9, 1922, on the USS America, to join their parents and younger sister Helen, born February 19, 1921, in Middleboro. The 1930 Federal Census found Anna Marie living in Bristol, Massachusetts, and working as a hospital maid under the name of Anna Warap.

Personal life

On December 25, 1930, Anna Marie (again under the name "Warap" per wedding coverage Stoughton News-Sentinel, 1 Jan 1931) married Everett Arnold Wigmore (1907-1969), of Stoughton, Massachusetts, where they lived during their marriage.[3] Her husband was in the family stone masonry business. A daughter, Wilma Edith Wigmore, was born on July 9, 1941.[3] On January 12, 1942, Wigmore became a United States citizen.[4] The Wigmores divorced sometime in the 1950s-60s.

Career

In 1968, Ann Wigmore co-founded the Hippocrates Health Institute,[5] a health resort in the United States, with Viktoras Kulvinskas.[6] Known as "the mother of living foods", she was an early pioneer in the use of wheatgrass juice and living foods for detoxifying and healing the body, mind, and spirit.[7]

In her autobiography, Why suffer?: How I overcame illness & pain naturally, Wigmore recounts observing her grandmother using herbs and natural remedies as a child in Lithuania.[8]

She was sued by the Massachusetts Attorney-General's department in 1988 for publishing pamphlets falsely claiming to offer an AIDS cure,[9] but acquitted under the First Amendment as the claims were deemed not to be not commercial claims made in trade. She was, however, ordered not to misrepresent herself as a doctor qualified to treat illness or disease.[10]

Death

Wigmore died in Boston on February 16, 1994, of smoke inhalation from a fire at the Ann Wigmore Foundation.[11]

At the time of her death, the Institute was called the Ann Wigmore Foundation. Brian Clement owned the Hippocrates Health Institute next door, which he relocated from Boston to West Palm Beach, Florida.

References

  1. ↑ 1920 Fed Census/1924 & 1925 Middleboro city directories
  2. ↑ 1930 Federal Census
  3. 1 2 Wigmore's sworn Petition for Naturalization No. 230018, executed by her on 12/10/1941, on file with the National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) Waltham, Massachusetts.
  4. ↑ Wigmore's Oath of Allegiance/Citizenship Granted dated l/12/1942, on file with NARA, Waltham, Massachusetts.
  5. ↑ Hillary Ferrara, "Raw energy; Adherents to the uncooked food diet say they've never felt better." Sarasota Herald Tribune; September 04, 2002
  6. ↑ James F. Scheer, "Green foods grow up" Better Nutrition; June 1, 1996
  7. ↑ "Wheatgrass therapy". NCAHF Newsletter; September 1, 1994
  8. ↑ Joe Schwarcz, "Wanted: enzymes--dead or alive?" Chemfusion, Canadian Chemical News; Monday, March 1, 2004
  9. ↑ "State sues to stop woman offering AIDS cure". Boston Globe. January 20, 1988. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Judge says woman can claim AIDS cure". Boston Globe. February 23, 1988. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Holistic health pioneer dies at 84 in fire at her Back Bay mansion" Boston Globe, February 17, 1994.

External links

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