Something was missing. The Conner's home was filled with two teenagers, Homer and Mary, and a precocious three-year-old Joyce, but there was a desire for something a little "extra," a longing for something just a little bit spicy, but also a little bit sweet. So, Joyce prayed for a baby sister. Anna Merle Conner Green was born on February 10, 1934, to Richard Calvin Conner and Ethel Mae Brent in Palestine, Texas. She was truly sugar and spice, and almost always nice.

Anna and her sister, Joyce, were quite the concoction. You see, balance is key in cooking up an adventure. You want a little bit tart, a little sweet, sometimes a little savory, but all of the flavors should be harmonious, and Joyce and Anna were usually in harmony, both in their singing and in their escapades. They held church services weekly on the side porch of their home at 1321 Howard Avenue. Joyce was the preacher and joined in with Anna for the special singing. All of their dogs and cats got saved regularly.

Going to church, singing, and wanting everyone to know about Jesus was an integral part of the young Anna's life. Her parents had gotten saved during a tent revival held by Raymond T. Richey before she was born. She followed their pattern and gave her heart to Jesus at an early age.

As Anna grew older, it was as if God had designed the perfect recipe for a true Texas Southern belle. She was dainty, quick-witted, loved lace and the color pink, and always looked so beautiful. She was very funny and could perfectly imitate anyone, all while looking perfectly innocent and angelic. She had just the right amount of spice.

She met Marshall Green while she was attending high school at Southwestern Bible Institute. At orientation, they were playing games and someone had loaned her Marshall's pen. He asked for it back. She fiercely refused and told him, "No. You're not the one who loaned it to me, and I am only giving it back to him." Marshall evidently liked her spiciness, and he was smitten.

They were married on July 18, 1952. Together, they created a family. First, there was their beautiful baby girl Marsha, followed by their first-born son, Mark. Then, they added their mischievously fun son Brent, and they thought that quiet Maelisa could be the final touch, but then they thought that they needed just one more flavor added to the mix in the form of Micah. The family moved back and forth between Texas and New Mexico for many years before finally settling down in Waxahachie in 1965.

Anna's love language was food. If she loved you, then she fed you. Hot, wonderful, meals were a daily feature in her home. With five kids, she was always working on a shoe-string budget, but she would take a dollop of this and a dash of that and fashion the most wonderful meals. She excelled at feeding lives. She provided not just food for the body but for the soul.

Every time that the church doors were open, the Greens were in church. Anna considered this a key ingredient to raising happy and Godly children. It was never presented as something that they had to do but as something fun that they got to do. Her dream was for all of her children to love God and be involved in ministry, so she fed them on her dreams.

As hard as Anna worked, she loved to have fun. While her kids were growing up, their home was a place of music and laughter. At any given time, a word or phrase would provoke someone to burst into song, sometimes with hilarious results. Anna was "extra." The Green family table, vacations, and car were always full of extras, - extra cousins, extra friends, and extra food. Their motto seemed to be "the more the merrier."

In the mid-1960's, she joined her sister Joyce at North Texas District Office of the Assemblies of God. She was the executive secretary to J.T. Davis. She and Joyce together were a potent powerhouse. They kept their offices running, made tasty snacks, and loved and prayed for the people that they come in contact with. She worked there for ten years. While her job was a type of ministry, she was also very active at University Assembly of God Church. She was a Missionette leader who loved teaching her girls about the Word of God. She sang in the choir and was also a member of the Mission Annes group. This group was responsible for raising money for missions as well as making sure that meals were provided whenever necessary.

In 1979, Anna went to work for Southwestern Assemblies of God College as the head of their post office. She was one of the first persons that the students would meet. They loved her and she adopted many of them. They became "her kids." Sometimes, if she knew that someone was particularly homesick and had not received a package from home in a while, a mysterious box of homemade cookies would be placed in their mailbox. Others became regulars at her home for Sunday dinner after church.

In 1994, Anna began her ultimate job of feeding the hungry, she went to work as a cook for Cornerstone Christian School. She loved those kids, and she gave a whole new meaning to the terms "cafeteria food" and "lunch lady." She used all of the talents that she had garnered over the years cooking on a budget, and added a pound of love to everything that she cooked. From there, she would go on to cook for Advantage Academy until she retired in 2009.

The other most important group of hungry children in her life were her grandchildren. She prayed for so many years to have a grandchild. She had always visualized herself with a whole house full of grandbabies to feed, love and spoil, but she went many years without even one grandchild. But in 1985, she was blessed with her first two, Marissa and Ricky Green, followed six months later by two more, Drew and Adri Rydholm. She suddenly had a double batch of grand babies. Finally, she would have heaps of grandkids: Markie and Gabrielle Rydholm, Blake and Brandon Manis, Dylan and Matthew Green, Mattie and Conner Green.

Recipes were a large part of Anna's life. Whether it was the recipe for her famous, green-chili, enchiladas, or the recipe for how to live a godly life, how to have a happy marriage, or how to raise kids who were firmly rooted and grounded in their faith in God, Anna had a secret ingredient. It was her own special spice made from: a bushel of wisdom from God's word, a peck of commitment to God and family, and a heart full of love. Anna's spice was not a taste, but a way of life. And just like any great spice, the scent, the taste, the flavor lingers long after she has gone.