Marguerite "Dolly" Tesseine

Dolly Tesseine, 72, of Mt. Pleasant died Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 at home. Her funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, at Lux Funeral Home with the Rev. Nancy Casey Fulton of Hospice of Central Michigan officiating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery. Friends may call at Lux Funeral Home in Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. and on Thursday from 3-5 and 7-9 p.m. Visitation continues on Friday from noon until service time. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Central Michigan or to Pardee Cancer Fund. Envelopes are available at Lux Funeral Home. Dolly was born Sept. 6, 1932, in Pittsburgh, PA, the daughter of William and Retha (Hayes) Pearson. At the young age of 16, Dolly was paid to play baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She played for a different team in each of her seven seasons from 1948-1954, including Muskegon, Peoria, Racine, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, South Bend and finally Grand Rapids. On April 30, 1955, she married Edward J. E.J. Tesseine in Grand Rapids. They moved to Mt. Pleasant where they owned and operated E.J.s Lounge until 1981. Dolly later worked for Central Michigan University in the athletics department. She retired in 1994 and since then has been very involved in the foster grandparents program. The children of the program were a very important love in her life. Children were always an integral part of her life as she started the first T-ball program in Mt. Pleasant and coached at various levels of baseball and softball. Her achievements in sports were noted by her induction into Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, the Michigan State Softball Hall of Fame, the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame, and the Mt. Pleasant Bowlers Hall of Fame. Dolly is survived by four children, Retha Jean R.J. Shreve of Arkansas, Sam (Kim) Tesseine of Ravenna, Ron (Ana Rebecca) Tesseine of Austin, TX, and Edward Tesseine Jr. of Berkeley, CA; five grandchildren; one great-grandchild; one brother, Bill (Ann) Pearson of Pittsburgh; and one sister, Sue (Charlie) Evans of Leonardtown, MD. She was preceded in death by her parents; and her husband, Edward E.J. in 1991.