Gayle Susan Ladwig, age 61, of Burnsville, MN, was born to eternal life on January 16th, 2026. She passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by her loved ones, after a courageous battle with cancer.

Gayle was born to this Earth on January 27th, 1964, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was married for 37 years to the love of her life, John Alan Ladwig, and was a loving mother to two children, Justin Alan Ladwig and Hayley Susan Ladwig.

Gayle graduated from Brown Deer High School in 1982, and went on to attend college at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, graduating in 1987 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and an emphasis in Marketing. Following her graduation, she and John moved to the southern suburbs of Chicago, then returned to their home town of Milwaukee to be married in 1988.

While living in Chicago, Gayle worked in inside sales, customer service, and as a medical sales liaison until 1991. Gayle and John moved to the Minneapolis area on the day of the Great Halloween Blizzard of 1991, where they bought their home and raised their puppy, Brutus, a sweet and loyal golden retriever. Gayle worked in sales support, customer service, and product management in the Twin Cities prior to having children. She committed to enjoying her early married life with John, traveling and working, before having children.

In 1996, Gayle and John’s son Justin was born, and in 1999, they also welcomed their daughter Hayley. Gayle’s commitment to her family was exemplified by her decision to be a stay-at-home parent from 1996-2018, and in doing so, she provided an involved, fun, safe, and adventurefilled childhood for Hayley and Justin. During this time, she also dedicated countless volunteer hours at the kids’ school events, extracurricular activities (Burnsville soccer and dance), MOMS Club, and charitable causes she was passionate about. Gayle’s devout love for the Church was shown through her passion for teaching early childhood religion classes for five years, participating as a Eucharistic Minister at Mary Mother for 20 years, and expressing the importance of faith in God to her children.

Gayle expressed a desire to re-join the workforce following Hayley and Justin’s departure to college, and began working again in September, 2019 for AMS Mediation as an Alternative Dispute Resolution Assistant. Following this job, in January, 2023, she began working for FORCE America, specializing in event planning, digital records management, property maintenance, and project management.

She loved FORCE America, the work she did, and the people she worked with. Gayle lived a life of love for people, nature, travel, music, and God. She was very active in kayaking, skiing, biking, going on walks, playing pickleball, and playing board games, and spending time with family and friends. Gayle never hesitated to take on new opportunities and did everything with honesty and integrity. Gayle had incredible patience, a loving heart, a contagious smile, and a generous soul. Gayle is survived by her husband John Ladwig, her children Hayley and Justin Ladwig, future daughter-in-law Kirthica Dutta, her sister, Ann Cassarie, and her mother Jean Cassarie, as well as countless close friends, loving relatives, and her faith community.

Gayle’s funeral services are as follows at Mary, Mother of the Church 3333 Cliff Rd E, Burnsville MN: -

Wake on January 29th from 4-7pm. -

Visitation on Friday, January 30th , from 10-11am. -

Funeral mass at Mary Mother on Friday, January 30th from 11am-12pm.

- Luncheon following mass at 12pm.

Gayle has requested that contributions in her memory be sent to the family in lieu of flowers, to be donated to organizations whose missions she was passionate about.