She was born in Sparta, Wis., on Oct. 24, 1955, to Clarence and Gwendolyn (Jones) Hearn. They moved to Council Bluffs a year later. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1974 and received a master's degree in special education from the University of Northern Iowa. She had been a library specialist at the Swanson branch of the Omaha Public Library system since 1996. She was a member of First Congregational Church.

She was preceded in death by her father in 1983.

Survivors include her mother; one sister, Mary Hearn, of Council Bluffs; four brothers, Mike and wife, Hlok, of LaVista, Neb., Tom and wife, Susan, of Council Bluffs, Daniel and wife, Cathy, of Elyria, Ohio, and John and wife, Mary Kay, of Council Bluffs; nieces and nephews.