Annika Ellen Hayes

Annika Ellen Hayes passed away on March 16, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee, from complications related to progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurological disorder that she had been battling for more than 15 years. She was 77 years old.

Annika was a native of Sweden and matriculated at Macalester College in the late 1960s, where she was active in a variety of progressive causes. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Macalester and spent the next several years traveling the United States before landing in northeastern Colorado. She received her teaching certification from the University of Northern Colorado and taught in the Arickaree and Akron school districts for nearly four decades.

She loved solving problems, which made her a great math teacher. She loved experiencing other cultures and languages, which made her a great Spanish teacher. And she loved helping people see and express beauty everywhere, which made her a great art teacher. Her classroom style - dedicated, demanding, and endlessly creative - earned her an award from the Boettcher Foundation in 2006 for excellence in teaching.

Annika was also a lifelong lover and defender of animals, particularly dogs and horses. She was a competitive English rider early in her life and later co-managed a successful quarter horse breeding program and horse sale company for many years.

She will be remembered by all who knew her as strong: in her opinions and convictions, in her love for her family and her students, and in her capacity for hard work. She loved nature and being outdoors, the Beatles, Pablo Picasso, the Denver Broncos, spicy margaritas, and inspiring others to live their lives as boldly and unapologetically as she always did.

Annika is preceded in death by her parents, Ake and Ann-Marie Wahlberg, and is survived by her brothers, Tomas Wahlberg and Mats Wahlberg; and her son, Kerry Hayes. In accordance with her wishes, she will be returned to her native Sweden for a private interment. In lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be made in her memory to Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee.