Mary Ann Laxen lives in East Grand Forks and represents Polk County. She is a retired health care administrator. She was also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota Crookston. She is the Chair of the Friends of the East Grand Forks Campbell Library Board, volunteers at the Northlands Rescue Mission, and has been a foster parent for high-risk infants in Polk County.

Mary Ann discovered art later in life -- she took it up to relax and unwind in her 50s. She was one of the founders of the River Walk Arts Gallery and Gift Shop in East Grand Forks, where, besides serving on the board, she exhibited and sold photography, photography notecards, and charcoal drawings. Mary Ann has entered her artwork into NWMAC exhibits.

Because she believes that the arts should be available to all ages, she agreed to join our Board.  She is living proof that “we are never too old to try something new!” At age 65 she skydived, at age 70 she went paragliding in the Swiss Alps and then, at age 75, she sailed down the Amazon and climbed part of Machu Pichu in Peru.