Louise M. Hanson

Louise Hanson, 97, passed away on November 8, 2011 at the Wakefield Health Care Center in Wakefield, Nebraska. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, November 19th, at 10:30 a.m. at Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield, with Pastor Jack T. Nitz as guest officiant. A visitation will be held on Friday, November 18, from 3:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Bressler~Munderloh Funeral Home in Wakefield, with a prayer service at 7:00 p.m. Interment will follow at the Wakefield Cemetery Louise May Boeckenhauer was born on December 11, 1913, on a farm near the small town of Miranda, South Dakota. Her parents were Elmer Boeckenhauer and Alice May Ralph Mitchell Boeckenhauer. When Louise was three months old, her parents and her brother, John, moved back to Northeast Nebraska where her parents were engaged in farming. This occupation took them to live in several places as Louise and her siblings, John, Ann, Jane, and Clarence (Bud) grew up. Louise, her brother John and sister Ann, were baptized at the Presbyterian Church in Wakefield on April 8, 1917. The Boeckenhauer family lived in or near the communities of Carroll, Wayne, Emerson, and Wakefield. Louise attended several country schools and graduated from Wayne High School in 1932. She then attended Wayne State Teachers’ College for one year. In 1935, Louise married Laurence F. Hanson of Wakefield. Louise was of German heritage, but she married a Swede. One of the first challenges for Louise was learning to cook Swedish food for her husband and her father-in-law, Frank, who lived with them, having recently lost his wife. Louise ably met the challenge and her cooking talents were legendary (as were those of her mother, sisters, and sisters-in-law). Louise and Laurence first lived on the farm south of Wakefield where Frank had built the round hog barn which much later was recognized as being of historic significance. They rented two other farms in succession and then, in 1948, they purchased a farm three miles west of Wakefield. They were members of Salem Lutheran Church during their Wakefield years. Louise was actively involved in many of Salem’s organizations. Louise and Laurence joined St. John’s Lutheran Church in Norfolk when they lived in Tilden. Because Laurence’s father moved to California during the war, as soon as they were able to, Laurence and Louise started to travel regularly to visit Frank and also other relatives and friends. Besides traveling extensively in the United States, they were eventually able to visit Canada, Peru, Costa Rica, and several European countries. Louise and Laurence enjoyed gardening. They tried, as much as possible, to keep up with the activities of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. They also enjoyed being informed about current events and politics. Their children were Delano, Paul, and Jean. In 1975, they retired and moved to Tilden where they lived until Laurence’s death in 1997. Louise then alternated between living in Wakefield or Tilden until her death on November 8 at the Wakefield Health Care Center where she has resided since May, 2007. Louise was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her son, Del, a great-grandson, Rune David Thorson, and all of her siblings. She is survived by her son, Paul K. Hanson and wife, Kay, from Billings, Montana; her daughter, Jean and husband, Don Oelsligle from Tilden, Nebraska; and her daughter-in-law, Marilyn and husband, Bill Mueksch from Lincoln, Nebraska; 8 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, and 2 sisters-in-law, Ruth Boeckenhauer and Donna Boeckenhauer, both from Wakefield. She is also survived by 9 nieces and 8 nephews.