She was born in New York City to Anna and Oliver Grotenfelt.
Ann grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and moved to Wilmington with her husband Sven V. Johnson and their three daughters in 1965, and it was there where they opened and operated the A&W drive-in seasonally for many years.
Ann ran the nursery school program at the Marcy in Lake Placid and played piano on Sundays at the Episcopal church. She later began taking college classes at North Country Community College, where she graduated with a nursing degree. She worked as an licensed practical nurse at the Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake on Medical 2 for many years. She also worked as an LPN at Elderwood of Uihlein. Ann moved to Boca Raton, Florida, and worked as an LPN in a Finish Hospital for two years. She decided to return to Wilmington in 2002.