Mary A. Benson, age 67, of Kimball, died unexpectedly at her home on Friday, January 20, 2017.

Funeral services will be held 5:00 p.m. Friday, January 27, 2017 at the Dingmann Funeral Care Chapel, Annandale with Deacon Ron Freeman officiating.  Visitation will be held 6-8 p.m. Thursday and 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Friday at the Dingmann Funeral Care Chapel, Annandale.

Mary Ann Benson was born on March 26, 1949 in Slayton, MN to Perry T. and Jeanne C. (Gleason) Byrne. She graduated from Tracy High School in 1967 and afterwards studied at Alexandria Technical College graduating as an MLT. On September 8, 1972 Mary was united in marriage to Dale R. Benson in Sioux Falls, SD. Mary and Dale lived in Maple Grove for 28 years before moving to the Kimball area in 2007.  Mary had an extensive career in the medical field where she worked as an MLT, Medical Technologist and later went into research and development playing a key role in helping to achieve many patents. She worked for the University of Minnesota and Northwestern Hospitals as well as various medical device companies in the Twin Cities. One of her greatest work achievements was helping detect a flaw in a medical device. After the device was fixed it was approved by the FDA and is still being used today to save lives.  For a few short years Mary also worked as a bartender at Robert E. Lee’s and Adagio’s.

Mary loved her family (especially the grandkids) and her friends. She loved spending time at the cabin on Lake Sylvia, celebrating special occasions, birthdays, boat rides, gardening, cooking, baking, reading books, wildlife and feeding the birds. Mary had a heart of gold and was always willing to share her unconditional love.

Mary is survived by her husband Dale of Kimball; daughter Sara Jeffrey (Shaun Mackenthun) of Litchfield and son Perry (Shawna) of Annandale; sisters Caryl Hart of Sioux Falls, SD, Judith (Herb) Bassett of LaCrosse, WI, Barbara Whiting and brother Thomas (Kathy) Byrne both of Currie, MN; grandchildren Brennan, Chloe, Cheyanne and Wyatt. She was preceded in death by her parents and son Noah.

The casket bearers will be Daryl Benson, Perry Benson, Wyatt Benson, Shaun Mackenthun, Brennan Jeffrey, Herb Girtz, Herb Bassett and Thomas Byrne.  Honorary casket bearers will be James Hart, Chad Hart, Peter Bassett, Brad Gerke, Jim Schams, Jim Anderson, Tom Byrne, Joey Byrne, Christopher Whiting and Andrew Whiting. 

 Service Information