FRANKENMUTH, MI — Members of the Frankenmuth community laid to rest their fallen mayor during a memorial service Saturday, March 16.
About 250 people gathered for Mary Anne Ackerman’s funeral at Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Frankenmuth, where pastors talked about Ackerman’s joy of listening to people, dedication to serving others, and love for education.
Ackerman was Frankenmuth’s mayor when she died Feb. 24 at the age of 66. She also spent a decade as the Frankenmuth School District superintendent.
“There was nothing Mary Anne was afraid to try,” the Rev. Patrick Jankowiak told attendees during Saturday’s 60-minute service. “She did that while being in the public eye. Being the first woman in such a high position wasn’t easy.”
Jankowiak and the Rev. Robert Byrne led a liturgy that included the recital of prayers and hymns as well as a recounting of Ackerman’s impact as a leader in the town known sometimes as “Little Bavaria.”
“She gave us everything she had and taught us everything she knew, including how to die with grace, and with a warm and loving heart,” Jankowiak said.
The memorial’s lone speaker besides church leaders was Charlene Hagen, Ackerman’s sister.
“You meant so much to her, and she would be so thankful you are here,” Hagen told attendees.
Jankowiak told them about Ackerman’s undeterred optimism.
“Mary Ann laid bare her joys, not her sufferings,” he said. “It was her way of seeing the beauty in things.”
Ackerman’s service in Frankenmuth began in 1995, when the Reese native — who previously served as a teacher and then principal at Millington Glaza Elementary — was hired as principal at List Elementary School in the Frankenmuth School District. Under her leadership, the school garnered state and national blue-ribbon awards as part of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Ackerman served as assistant superintendent for one year before beginning a 10-year tenure as Frankenmuth School District superintendent in 2006.
After her retirement from the school district, she remained involved in education until her death. Ackerman worked as an executive-in-residence with Saginaw Valley State University’s faculty while also serving as co-director of the college’s Gerstacker Fellowship Program, which provides leadership development for educators across the region.
She entered politics in 2016, when voters elected her to the Frankenmuth City Council. Then, during the November 2018 elections, she defeated Gary Rupprecht to become the first new Frankenmuth mayor in 33 years.
Colleagues and constituents said her political legacy in part was defined during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Ackerman encouraged solidarity. She spoke and wrote messages often via social media channels, where she attempted to provide people with a sense of unity even as public health policies kept many people separated, colleagues said.
One of her signature decisions during the pandemic involved encouraging Frankenmuth residents and business owners to display decorative red ribbons across the city as a showing of solidarity.
After she died, Frankenmuth City Hall officials paid tribute to that decision by encouraging members of the community to place on their homes and storefronts ribbons featuring the blue-and-white colors of the Bavarian flag.
Hundreds of those ribbons remained on display Saturday in the neighborhoods surrounding Blessed Trinity Catholic Church.
The memorial service, recorded on the church’s YouTube channel, remains available to view online.
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