Irene Hildegard Hedwig Hanson

Dear bereaved people,

Please accept our most heartfelt sympathies for your loss of your mother Irene. Our thoughts are with you and your family during this difficult time.
Irene was a schoolmate of our mother Erna Schwabedissen (née Grutke, war widowed Kuhn) in Breslau. Having fled from Silesia, together with her parents and the baby daughter Karin, our mother settled in Bad Salzuflen (North Rhine Westphalia) and in 1956 got married to our father, Helmut Schwabedissen. Our mother...

Irene's smiling face, hats, and purple shoes ... her dauntless spirit, generosity and goodwill despite the hardships of her youth ... I know she is,and will be, lovingly remembered by so many.
She sat beside me at a Bray Concert, now so many years ago, and after giving her that first, of many, car rides home to the neighborhood in which we both lived, knowing her gave so much more back to me.
So many celebrations with her, and today I'll have a glass of brandy to toast her, as...

Irene was a devoted member of the" Friends of Music" at The concert series, "Music at Saint Paul's" and a patient teacher of my halting attempts at the German language. Also: we shared the same birthday, December 31. She always phoned me on that very day!

I remember Irene as my teacher in a German class in 1971. She was gracious enough to host our class at a Christmas themed party at her Apartment in Flint's East Village.
I have very happy memories of her.

What a wonderful woman. She surely will be missed by many

Remember Irene fondly from our association in St Cecilia Society as well as the Germam Assn of Dank ( for which she asked me to sing the Anthem on several occasions)... She was truly a powerhouse and I shall miss her ...

Irene was our "Symphony Neighbor" at Whiting Auditorium for many years and we so enjoyed her company. We were season ticket holders next to "her seat" (it has her name engraved on it, a gift from her children) and enjoyed many FSO performances sitting next to her. We enjoyed her stories of Germany. We will never listen to a FSO performance without thinking of her. We her burial occurs, we would very much like to pay our respects.