HESLA, Ann Marie

HESLA, Ann Marie, was born April 29, 1931 to Hilda (Carlson) and Peter G. Pearson in their farm home south of Warroad, MN. She graduated from Warroad High School in 1948 and St Cloud State in 1952. In the fall of 1952, she took a train to Tucson, AZ where she had a teaching contract. In January 1953 she married Lou Hesla of Tucson, AZ. For close to the next 50 years Ann Marie lived in Tucson where she was a piano teacher, was always employed as a choir director and/or organist at various churches, and worked as an accompanist for school districts and the University of Arizona. She also accompanied the Tucson Boys' Chorus for three, three month national tours in the early 1960's. She received a Masters in Music Education from the University of Arizona in 1956 and later earned a major in Psychology. From 1998 to 2003 she was organist at Christ Presbyterian Church in Tucson where she had been their first choir director and organist in the 1950's. Ann Marie passed away from cancer at her home in Warroad, MN on December 9, 2010. Memorials are welcomed to Christ Presbyterian Church of Tucson, AZ, the Salvation Army, or The Gideons. A Memorial Service for Ann Marie Hesla will be held in the spring on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, Warroad, MN. Arrangements by HALGESON FUNERAL CHAPEL.