Mary L. Ryerse was born in Minneapolis on April 14, 1935 and passed away peacefully on November 11, 2020, surrounded by her family in the privacy of their home at the age of 85.
Preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Mae Lysne, brother Harold Lysne and sister Kay Bjorker. Mary attended Northrup Collegiate, St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota, where she was an active member of Alpha Phi Sorority while majoring in Fine Arts.
On June 16, 1956, she married David Ryerse and they had two children, Mimi Ryerse and Davey Ryerse. She also leaves behind two nieces who she has always been very fond of, Darcy Wright and Wendy Asplund.
Mary began her career in Real Estate with Fox Herfurth in Wayzata and eventually opened her own company, Tonka West Properties. She then went on to work with Burnet Realty as she worked her way up to CEO of Coldwell Banker Burnet, which at the time, was the largest real estate company in Minnesota. Besides her love of real estate, Mary was a member of the Junior League as well as one of the owners of Gold Mine Antiques in Wayzata.
She loved spending time between their family homes in Wayzata, Aspen and Indian Wells, California, where they belonged to the Eldorado Country Club. She loved to golf and was also a member of Woodhill Country Club in Wayzata and Lafayette Country Club. Besides golf, she enjoyed skiing, skating, painting and her adorable yellow labs. Both Mary and her husband were pilots and often flew together on trips to their home in Colorado.
The family is very thankful for the absolute best group of caregivers who looked after her for the past several months - Stacy, Christine, Renee, Alex, Sue P, Kari and Becky - and to the wonderful team at Brighton Hospice.
There will be a private service at Lakewood Cemetery.
To send flowers
to the family or plant a tree
in memory of Mary L. (Lysne) Ryerse, please visit our floral store.