M. Ann Beard

M. Ann Beard, age 85 of Melrose, passed away Sunday, February 2, 2025 at Cura Care Center in Melrose, Minnesota.

A Celebration of Life luncheon will be held Sunday, March 23rd at the Melrose Legion in Melrose, Minnesota. Lunch starts being served at 11:30am until 1:00pm –first come, first served. Memorial reflection of Ann’s life to be made during lunch. A separate celebration will be held later this summer in Missouri.

M. Ann Davis was born January 15, 1940 in Cross Timbers, Missouri. She was united in marriage to Bobby Parks in 1956 and later to Hollis Beard on April 19, 1973 and celebrated 25 years together. Ann and Hollis moved from Missouri to Melrose, Minnesota in the mid-seventies and made Minnesota home from that time forward.

A devoted wife and loving mother, Ann dedicated her life to raising her three children: Donna, Jimmy, and Anthony. During her time in Melrose and especially during her later years as a resident of the Melrose Care Center, she ‘adopted’ hundreds of others who came to know her as Grannie Annie. Ann applied herself to homemaking, dairy farming, singing/songwriting, restaurant serving, retail service, dispatching, office administration, elementary education, and many years as a Melrose School Board member.

In her volunteer efforts, she, along side her husband Hollis, was active in the Melrose American Legion (Women’s Auxiliary), Melrose Cub Scouts, and Melrose Lions Club.

Ann was preceded in death by her father, Alva Davis, mother, Beatrice (Jenkins) Davis, brother, Harold Davis, ex-husband, Bobby Parks, and second husband, Hollis Beard.

Ann is survived by her brother, Donald Davis of Camdenton, Missouri, children, Donna Fashant (Parks) of St. Cloud, Minnesota, James Parks of Cross Timbers, Missouri, Michael Beard of Santee, South Carolina, loved like a daughter, Lesley Street of Garden City, Missouri, and Anthony Beard of Melrose, Minnesota.