Edina - Nurse, scholar, pianist, knitter, reader of the classics, devoted wife and mother, and, in every sense, an original — died peacefully on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, surrounded by her three sons and their families. She was 94.

She was, quite simply, rare. An uncut gem.

Born on Tuesday, June 16, 1931, in Washburn, Wisconsin, Babs was raised on a dairy farm owned by her father, Leif Hirsch, who with her mother, Esther Madelin Halverson, had only recently emigrated from Norway. She grew up among a large and close-knit group of siblings, including her oldest brother, Russell, who survived World War II's Battle of the Bulge, but was killed in action in Germany on Thursday, February 22, 1945. He called her his "Little Gremlin," and, in one of those small heartbreaks that echo across a lifetime, a letter bearing that affectionate nickname arrived only after news of his death had reached the family farm.

A curious student, Babs attended Ondossagon High School in Washburn, graduating in 1949 as salutatorian. She loved Shakespeare — "As You Like It" in particular — and that early spark would grow into a lifelong intellectual passion. She earned her R.N. from St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth in 1953, receiving the "Outstanding Student Award" and beginning her career as an operating room nurse, a role she carried out with skill, discipline and quiet authority from 1953 to 1956.

It was in the fall of 1953 that she met William ("Bill") Eckland, who arrived at her apartment — shared with her two roommates — on a house call selling Wear-Ever pots and pans. In a moment that seemed to foreshadow a life of charm and improbability, he grilled steaks in one of his frying pans right there in the apartment. And true to the independent streak that she exhibited throughout her life, Babs was the only one of the three roommates who did not purchase a pot or a pan from Bill that night. Instead, he bought her a beer — and a lifetime link began.

Bill courted her persistently. On a fall weekend around Halloween in 1955 — complete with a University of Minnesota (UofM) football game against USC — he asked her to marry him on the banks of the Mississippi River where the Showboat formerly docked for renditions of UofM produced plays. She said yes.

They were married on Saturday, April 7, 1956 in Bayfield, Wisconsin on a night marked by a snowstorm that stranded them in a motel after the ceremony — a beginning at once characteristically Midwestern and also conducive to romance. Soon after, they moved to New Rochelle, New York, and then to Warren, Ohio, where their first son, Jeff, was born on Thursday, January 17, 1957 — interestingly ten or so days late.

By 1958, the young family had returned to Minnesota, settling first near the UofM campus and then in a newly built home in Fridley. Babs worked as a nurse in Minneapolis before turning her full attention to raising her growing family. Their second son, Kevin, was born on Saturday, April 11, 1959, and their third son, Todd, followed on Thursday, December 22, 1960.

During the 1960s, Babs devoted herself to motherhood and homemaking. In the early 1970s, as Bill transitioned into a career in life insurance, she made a decision that would redefine the arc of her life. At the age of 40, with three sons and a household to run, she enrolled at the UofM. She graduated in 1975 with a B.A. in English Literature, earning a perfect 4.0 GPA, and went on to complete her M.A., also in English Literature, in 1979. After graduation, she served as an instructor in freshman composition, guiding young students through the intricacies of language and thought.

Her academic achievement was remarkable; at a time when many might have settled into established roles, she chose reinvention. Yet, in a decision that reflected both love and partnership, she ultimately turned from a potential academic career to support her husband's work, serving as his assistant from 1979 until the early 1990s. Together, they further developed his insurance practice, highlighted by Bill's recognition as "Agent of the Year" for the Minneapolis agency of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1984.

In 1990, they sold their Fridley house and moved to the Towers Condominium in downtown Minneapolis, where Babs would live for many years, filling the space with music from her grand piano and the quiet presence of her beloved books. When Bill's health declined due to Parkinson's disease, Babs devoted herself entirely to his care until his death on Wednesday, November 15, 1995. It was an act of love, endurance and grace.

In the decades that followed, she continued to anchor her family. She spent countless hours with her grandchildren during beloved "Grandma Days," included guiding them to local libraries to instill in them her love of books. Following Bill's death, Babs developed two other beautiful relationships, first with Virg Dahlstrom, who she met at the Towers Condominium, and then with Gene Messenger, who became her beloved companion and beneficiary of their love of Twins baseball and other lifelong passions until he died on Thursday, December 26, 2024.

She also inspired her sons not only through her intellect, but through her example — her insistence on curiosity, discipline and engagement with the world. Her legacy lives on, in part, through a UofM family scholarship, and she died as she lived — on her own terms, surrounded by her family.

Through it all, she remained unmistakably herself: brilliant, genuine, sophisticated, direct, beautiful, fun, interested and interesting. One of her physicians, in her final days, described her as "regal." It fit. Particularly given that her family maiden name centuries ago was "Von Hirschen," the name of German Barons.

We are deeply grateful for the love, care and support given by her home caregivers, including the staff at the Waters of Edina and the Visiting Angels, as well as her doctors and nurses over many years at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

Everyone who encountered Babs felt it — that rare combination of intellect, presence and vitality that cannot be manufactured or imitated. She did not simply move through the world, she animated it.

Babs is survived by her three sons and their families — Jeff and his wife Deborah and their three children, Emily, Abigail and William; Kevin and his wife Jean and their three children, Colin, Robert and Amy; and Todd and his wife Susan and their three children, Eric Pietryga (and his wife Janel), Sarah Pietryga (and her two children Mila and Aden) and Emily Brescia (and her husband Elex and their child due in the coming days), all of whom will carry forward her legacy of intellect, strength and love.

She is already deeply missed.

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A visitation will be held from 12:00 noon to 1:00 PM on Thursday, April 16th at the Chapel at Lakewood Cemetery (3600 Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis). Immediately following the visitation, a memorial service will be held at 1:00 PM in the Chapel. Following the service, there will be a reception from 2:00 to 4:30 PM at the Garden Mausoleum across the street from the Chapel. In honor of Babs, her favorite cocktail, Cosmopolitans, will be served.

In lieu of flowers, please consider contributions to the BrightFocus Foundation for Macular Degeneration Research and the Minnesota Twins Community Fund.

www.Washburn-McReavy.com

Edina Chapel 952-920-3996