Ilah G Hanson

Ilah G. Hanson, age 100, Bradley, the widow of Earl C. Hanson, died peacefully in the Bethesda Home at Aberdeen, where she had resided the past three years, on Thursday, March 4, 2010 after a brief illness. Celebration of Life Services will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 1PM in the St. Johns Lutheran Church at Bradley with the Reverend Jeff Whillock officiating. Burial will follow in the Prairie Hill Cemetery at Bradley. The Olson and Caulfield families of Bradley and all other friends should consider themselves as honorary casketbearers. The active casketbearers will be Riley Theel, Allen and Dana Stern, Alex and Micah Hanson and Chris Olson. Music will be presented by Marvine Obermeier as organist with LeAnn Maag as soloist. There will also be congregational singing. Visitation will be held on Monday from 5-7PM at the Furness Funeral Home at Clark and after 11AM at the Church on Tuesday. She was born on March 24, 1909 at Bradley, the daughter of Hans and Hilda (Markrud) Olson. She attended school in Bradley graduating from Bradley High School in 1927. On June 30, 1927 she was united in marriage to Earl C. Hanson at Grace Lutheran Church at Watertown. To this union three children were born, Doris, Jeanette and Dennis. The couple raised their three children on a farm five miles south of Bradley. They endured the dirty thirties with their hard work, determination and sturdiness, even losing their home to a fire and all possessions in 1939. They enjoyed entertaining family and friends; Ilah was a wonderful homemaker. Some of the things she will long be remembered for will be her gentle spirit, her wonderful sense of humor and her big heart. She raised a big garden, did a lot of canning, raised chickens and turkeys and was known well for her speed at milking cows. In the neighborhood she cut many heads of hair. Another fond memory of Ilah that many will have will be her excellent homemade bread, the special chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies that grandchildren always wanted and her apple pie. The couple retired from farming in 1966 and moved into Bradley to care for her mother in the house her father built in 1909. Her mother passed away in 1982 and they continued living there until Earls death in 1993. Ilah continued living there on her own with some extra help from neighbors and home health until she needed to have more medical care. She then became a resident of the Bethesda Home in Aberdeen when she was over 97 years old! She was a lifelong member of St. Johns Lutheran Church at Bradley where she played the piano for some 25 years and was an active member of the Ladies Aid (WELCA). Preceding her in death were her parents, husband, a daughter, Doris Sheldon, brother, Rudolph (Olga) Olson and a sister, Eleanor (Ben) Santa. Grateful for having shared in her life are her children, Jeanette (Don W.) Nelson of Watertown and Dennis (Flora) Hanson of Aberdeen, 10 grandchildren, Valerie, Vickie, Stephanie, Donette, Lisa, Mark, Jodi, Michael, Monte and Laurieann, several great and great-great-grandchildren and a host of friends. Special thanks are given by her family to the entire staff at Bethesda Home in Aberdeen and Reid Holkesvik, MD, for the loving care they gave to Ilah these past three years. Memorials in her memory, in lieu of flowers, would be appreciated to the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Foundation or the American Diabetes Foundation. Arrangements are with the Furness Funeral Home at Clark where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com