"Lesley Purdy Hughes, of Lakeville, Minnesota, passed away after a courageous 6-year long battle with ALS, on January 18, 2026. Born in Stillwater, Lesley made ordinary life feel like the point: especially if it involved her “penguin laugh,” a Sunday Bloody Mary, a board game, a pile of Legos, or doing absolutely nothing on the couch with the person she loved. 

She loved antiquing, watching football (GO LIONS!), and getting excited for silly TV shows and movies that meant nothing, until they meant time together. She also became a legitimately great gamer over the years, going from “Yeah, I played Mario as a kid” to beating The Last of Us Part II for the third time with no help and absolutely no shame about being better at it. 

Lesley built her career at Target Corporation, where she loved her job, manager, and her coworkers so much that she worked until the very end. That wasn’t denial. That was Lesley deciding what parts of her life were still hers. 

Lesley is survived by her husband, Rob Hughes; her mother, her mother’s spouse, her brother, her brother’s spouse, and her niece. She was preceded in death by her father, Bruce Purdy, who died from ALS when Lesley was a baby and never got to see his daughter grow into the remarkable person she became.

As per her wishes, there will be no service or celebration of life. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ALS Association.