Date of Birth:
Friday, January 11, 1935
Date of Death:
Monday, June 23, 2025
Age:
90 years old

Ann L. Hesley

Ann Louise Hesley -Oronoco, Minnesota

January 11,1935 – June 23, 2025

Ann Louise Hesley (nee Tisher) was born and raised on a farm in Amherst, South Dakota, the eldest of four children of Buss and Anje Tisher.  Growing up on the heels of the Great Depression, she and her siblings worked on the farm feeding animals, working in the fields, and showing horses.  Her formative years during these tough times cemented her core values of hard work, determination, and thrift.

Ann attended Amherst School, often on horseback.  She was a cheerleader, a member of the basketball team and the Daughters of the American Revolution. After graduation, Ann went on to study at South Dakota State University at Brookings.  She completed her degree at the Mayo Clinic School of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in Rochester, Minnesota.  This is where she met her fellow Physical Therapist and life-long best friend, Sally Reese.  Sally and her husband Bill were fixtures in the Hesley household.  Rochester is also where Ann’s rooming house “mother” introduced her to Gerald Hesley, the young dentist who lived across the street. When Ann and Jerry married in 1959, Ann moved across the street into the unique old home she treasured and lovingly cared for the rest of her life.

While a young Physical Therapist, wife, and mom to Susan (1961) and Jay (1965), Ann was active in numerous community organizations, serving in leadership positions.  The YWCA, AAUW, Friends of the Library, the Women’s Dental Auxiliary, and the Aldrich Nursery School, all benefited from the gift of her time and energy.  An avid reader, Ann was also a member of several book clubs.

Ann’s career at the Mayo Clinic spanned six decades, all of them spent at East 10 in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.  She was featured in a Fortune Magazine article about the Mayo Executive Health Program, where she was described as a “white haired bundle of energy.” Ann retired in 2002, proud as punch of rarely taking a sick day; even taking chemotherapy treatments for Stage 4 breast cancer on her lunch break.

Cutting a trim figure her whole life, Ann was an exercise enthusiast and could never understand why others wouldn’t just “get off their duffs” and do the same.  She taught Trimercise classes, known as Pilates, to young homemakers at the YWCA.  She ran, walked, cross-country skied, hiked, and played league softball.  When she moved to Cottagewood Senior Communities in 2024 at the age of 89, she insisted her weights come with her.

Ann and Jerry were decades long members of First Presbyterian Church and later original members of Community Presbyterian Church (CPC), serving as officers in both churches.  At CPC, Ann was known for her “39 Forever” annual picnics which she hosted in her “very clean garage,” according to the church newsletter.

Ann loved working in her yard, especially after she and Jerry moved their beloved home from downtown Rochester to an acreage in Oronoco in 1988.  It wouldn’t be unusual to find Ann pulling weeds or raking in the pre-dawn hours.

Ann died June 23, 2025, from complications of dementia.   The family is eternally grateful to the amazing staff at Cottagewood for their compassionate care of Ann during the last stage of her remarkable life.

Ann was preceded in death by her parents, Buss and Anje Tisher, as well as by her husband, Gerald T. Hesley.  She is survived by her children, Susan Allison (Jeff) of Swansboro, North Carolina, and Jay Hesley (Gina) of Rochester, Minnesota.  Ann is also survived by her siblings, Peggy Kalla of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Donald Tisher (Sharon) of Amherst, South Dakota, and Virginia Gray of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In addition, she is survived by her grandson, Ryan Allison of Pineville, North Carolina, with whom she had a very special relationship, as well as two granddaughters, Jenna Billard (Dan) of Annapolis, Maryland, and Jamie Garcia (Sonny) of Everton, Missouri, and six great-granddaughters.

Ann cherished her extended family, her friends, and Susan and Jay’s friends, whom she sometimes seemed to like more than her own children.  She treasured her “Three Sisters” road trips and her family’s annual reunion at the homestead in South Dakota.

A private celebration of Ann’s life will be held at a later date. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, those who so desire, please make memorial donations to a charity of their choice.

Online condolences are welcome at www.mackenfuneralhome.com