She obtained a teaching certificate in 1932 and taught for five years. Moving to Saskatoon, she worked for nine years as a dressmaker with a department store. She graduated in 1964 from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics and a Bachelor of Education, followed in 1969 by a Diploma in Continuing Education.

A major contribution to rural Saskatchewan was her work with Indian women, representing women on 44 reserves. In three years more than 1,700 took courses taught by instructors trained at the university. These local instructors attended short courses in home management, nutrition, food preparation, money management, knitting and sewing. With financial backing from Saskatchewan Womenís Institutes, Ann and her husband obtained and refurbished over 200 used treadle sewing machines. These were presented to women who had completed 60 hours of training. Many Indian women learned basic homemaking skills from their own instructors.

Aside from her work with natives, Ann Colley provided Homemakersí clubs, 4-H clubs, Womenís Institutes and agricultural societies with courses in consumer education, nutrition, home management, family life education and clothing and textiles. One of her chief concerns was money management in the family.

She initiated and produced the first University of Saskatchewan television series on major issues of land use, transportation and energy in 1977. These were seen from six television stations in Saskatchewan.

In the mid-1970s she conducted courses in retirement education from the university.

She served a term as president of the Saskatchewan Home Economics Association and was an active worker in Saskatoon community organizations, including Friendship Inn, the Canadian Red Cross and Orpheus 60 Choir.

On retirement in 1978 she took a two-year assignment in Botswana, Africa, to teach native women nutrition, sewing, leadership, home management and money management.