Birth April 25, 1934
Milwaukee, WI
Death Dec. 7, 2024
Barre, VT
Details of service
A funeral is planned for Dec. 30 at 2 p.m. at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Barre.
Nancy Ruth Hanson died peacefully in her home in Barre, Vermont, on Dec. 7, 2024. Nancy was born Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 25, 1934, to her parents Mildred and Harold Wilson. She married Edward Hanson of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Dec. 27, 1956. Nancy and Ed had four children: Ellen, Eric, Carl and Karen.
The Hansons lived in Milwaukee until 1975, when they moved to Plattsburgh, New York. In 1992, after the kids had moved on, Nancy and Ed moved to East Montpelier, Vermont. Ed passed away in 1997, and Nancy moved to her house on John Street in Barre.
Nancy was an artist, nature lover and gardener. In Plattsburgh, she joined the theatre department at SUNY and worked as a costume designer within the department. She also took up oil painting and studied art at SUNY. In Vermont, she gained a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from Vermont College. Later, she started to work with other sculptural media such as stained glass and mosaics. She designed the front window (a collaborative project) for her church, the Church of the Good Shepherd in Barre. As she grew older, gardening became her main canvas, her own colorful garden becoming a feature of John Street.
Beyond her home, Nancy also became a world traveler later in life, taking many trips throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as New Zealand to visit her son Carl and his family.
Nancy leaves behind her daughter Karen Hanson, who lives in Barre, and her son Carl Hanson, who lives in New Zealand with his wife Marian. She also leaves two grandchildren, Tom Hanson in Washington, DC, and Emily Hanson currently in London. Nancy is survived by one of 5 siblings, her sister Colleen Gruban of Rosenheim, Germany and of course, Nancy’s faithful cat Reebok, who was at Nancy’s side when she passed away. Please visit awrfh.com to share your memories and condolences.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Nancy Ruth Hanson.