Mary Ann Hakonson

Mary Ann Burger Hakonson died May 31, 2007 at the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center from complications following a three-year battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Mary Ann was born March 20, 1944, in Denver and was the second of five children born to Arnold and Mary (Weyandt) Burger. Mary Ann attended Johnstown High School and Longmont High School where she obtained her high school diploma in 1962. She attended college at Colorado State University under academic scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Hearing Science. She went on to earn her Masters Degree for the Acoustically Handicapped at the University of Northern Colorado in 1968 and spent her 34-year career providing speech-language therapy for students in the communities of Casper, Wyoming; Sidney, Creighton, and Wisner, Nebraska. Mary Ann retired from public education in 2001 at which time she moved to Lander, Wyoming, with her husband Bill. In 2005, Bill also retired from public education and the couple moved to Cheyenne, to be closer to family.Mary Ann was the consummate educator and was proudest of her years serving students of all ages. Her unflagging support and assistance, even to the time of her death, were invaluable in her own children's educations as both John and Ann earned doctorates in education. In addition to spending time with her husband, children, and grandsons, whom she considered dearest in life, Mary Ann also enjoyed the arrival of flowers and hummingbirds in spring and the occasional pulling of a ""one-armed bandit."" To friends and family, she will always be remembered for her kind heart, spunk, and selfless generosity.Her father and brother Martin Burger precede her in death.Surviving are her husband of Cheyenne, mother of Longmont, a son John Hakonson and his wife Tricia of Sidney, Nebraska, a daughter Ann Jones and her husband Kevin of Sinclair, Wyoming, three sisters Donna Thoelecke and her husband Tim of Northfield, Illinois, twin Martha Morgan of Longmont, and Nancy Beauprez and her husband Jerry of Bellvue, Colorado, and three grandsons, Thomas and Aaron Hakonson and Lane Jones.A cremation has been held.A Vigil/Recitation of the Rosary will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, June 5, with a Celebration of Mary Ann?s Life to follow immediately, all at the Howe Mortuary Chapel. Contributions may be made to the Mary Ann Hakonson Scholarship Fund through the Wisner-Pilger Community School Foundation, P.O. Box 580, Wisner, NE 68791.