Dorothy Hanson

Dorothy Jane Hanson “Dewey” is remembered by her family and friends as a most kind, loving and devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.

She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1934, and grew up along the White River in the family home that her eldest sister, Margaret, still lives in today.

After graduating high school in 1951, she moved to Chicago to serve with her sister Margaret and was living at the “I AM” Temple while Mrs. Ballard gave the classes. Here she met her future husband, Henry “Mack” Hanson.

She and Mack dated as he went through college at IIT. She worked as a switchboard operator at Field Enterprises, taking the American Academy of Art Courses, practical nursing classes, and helping, as Mack said, “rewriting and typing all his college papers for him, as he was a dismal speller!”

Dorothy was a wonderful mother to her four children, making every holiday, birthday, and celebration beautiful, full of gifts and favorite foods. She engaged in every activity of her children’s and grandchildren’s lives: the PTA, enrolling and shuttling them to baseball and basketball games, ballet, music, and art lessons, scouting, sewing school costumes, getting supplies, and helping them research for school projects and productions.

Dorothy was a phenomenal planner--packing and planning for the whole family’s yearly two-week car/camping trips out West. Her home was always organized and immaculate.

She was loving and kind to everyone she met. She and Mack welcomed their children’s families and friends to stay and live with them for extended visits.

She was friendly and outgoing and always up for learning something new and had various interests, joining a bowling league with her PTA friends, sewing, cooking, and taking up Tai Chi.

In 1994, Dorothy and Mack retired to California, and built their dream home on the side of Mount Shasta. During these years she homeschooled her granddaughter, Isabelle. She became a “housemother” for six high school students, some from foreign countries, --continuing her incredible educational support that started with her own children.

In 2018, Dorothy and Mack moved to Idaho close to their daughter Cheryl’s Family. Some of the last conversations Dorothy had with individuals at the Monte Vista Hills nursing home in Idaho were about how much she loved the “kids” (nursing staff) who cared for her there.

Dorothy made a significant impression on everyone who was lucky enough to have known her.

Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents, Jennie and George Curtis, her sister, Ruth Curtis, brothers Jim and Bill Curtis, and the love of her life and husband of 58 years, Mack Hanson. She is survived by her sister, Margaret Curtis, her children, Cheryl (Rickey Frandsen) Hanson, Scott Hanson, Brenda Moore, and John (Jennifer Schindl) Hanson, eight grandchildren: Michael, Joseph, Justin, Tyler, and Matthew Hanson, Isabelle Moore, and Dorithy and Emily Frandsen and four great-grandchildren: Sean, Emily, Lily, and Avery Hanson, and several nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2022 at Wilks Funeral Home betginning at 11:00 a.m.