Remembering...

	Dee Ann Christensen, 83, retired teacher, MRLF campaign staffer, community activist
2018 photo

Adapted from the Minneapolis Labor Review, March 25, 2023

By Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review editor

COON RAPIDS — If you answered your phone or your doorbell during election season, you might well have found Dee Ann Christensen eager to talk with you.

Christensen, who died December 13, 2022, worked for the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 campaign cycles with the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation’s field staff — long after she retired from her career as a high school social studies teacher.

She also worked on the Anoka Hennepin school levy in 2017.

She was a member of Anoka Hennepin Education Minnesota and active with the Minneapolis Regional Retiree Council.

“If I had an educated guess, she’s made as many election calls as anyone in the past six-plus years with the MRLF,” said Casey Hudek, MRLF campaigns manager.

“I love doorknocking,” Christensen told the Labor Review in 2018. “I know I can convince people by first listening… Find core values and then persuade them.”

Calling Christensen “a fierce champion of democracy,” the League of Women Voters of Anoka, Blaine and Coon Rapids in 2022 presented Christensen with its Zilla Way Award.

“She actively worked all of her life to make life better for others,” said her son, David Heslop.

Her family prefers memorials to Fresh Energy, a St. Paul non-profit.