Ann was born to James Otey Porter and Virginia Burns Porter in San Antonio, Texas, where the family happened to be as her father traveled throughout the West for Movietone News. As the Great Depression deepened, the family worked a family farm in Tennessee where Ann, as a four-year-old, picked green worms from tobacco leaves, their cash crop. As an "army brat" during World War II, Ann attended twelve different schools, graduating from Freeport High School, Long Island, New York, in 1951.

After graduation Ann went to Blacksburg, Virginia, for the summer to help her sister at the birth of her first child and met Murph Westing, who lived in a barn at Virginia Tech, caring for the animals as he worked his way through college. In 1953 Ann graduated from Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City; Ann and Murph were married the same year. During their 53 years of marriage, they made homes in Virginia, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon. Murph died in 2005.

After their four children began school, Ann had many jobs and enjoyed volunteering as a Bluebird leader, Cub Scout Mom, Sunday school teacher, and PTA board member. Immediate family members remaining are Murph and Ann's children, Betsy Westing (Dan Podell), Dan Westing, Heather Westing (Kyle Gunsul), James Westing, and grandchildren Thoran, Xander, CJ, Sam, and Rachel. Believing that her spirit will go "somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known", Ann requested that her mortal remains be donated to assist with medical teaching and research.