Hierseman, Shannon Lynn

Shannon Lynn Hierseman, 37, died Tuesday, March 1, 2011, after a valiant battle with depression. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 5, at Bethany Lutheran Church, West Branch, with Pastor Ellery Dykeman officiating. Burial will be in the West Branch Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Henderson-Barker Funeral Home in West Branch.

Shannon was born March 27, 1973, in Iowa City, the daughter of Larry Thomas and Charlotte Hahn. She was a 1991 graduate of West Branch High School and later she received her B.N. degree from the University of Iowa. On June 5, 1999, she was united in marriage to John Hierseman in Solon. She has worked as a nurse at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids and Mercy Iowa City.

Shannon started riding horses before she could walk, her love of horses brought her to what she was most recently doing - working with horses, giving riding lessons and training horses.

Shannon loved and was most proud of her boys, loved her family, many friends, all animals and her horses.

Survivors include her husband, John Hierseman; two sons, Jaden and Gavin; father, Larry Thomas; mother, Charlotte Hahn and her husband, Frank Mesa; and her grandmother, Sylvia Pence.

A memorial fund has been established.

Online condolences may be made to the family at