Carol Y. Hanson

Carol Yvonne Hanson passed away on July 5, 2025. When the fireworks quieted, so did she, which added a poignant exclamation point to her significant 93 years and 321 days. Mom never overcame her sorrow from losing Dad in November of 2023, nor did she try. Her love of Calvin began in high school with 79 years of sustain. This love proved to be the overriding theme of her storied life.

Born into a dissonant family in Moline, Illinois on September 11, 1931, she soon took matters into her own hands by gaining focus on organizing a tastefully balanced life in art, integrity, hard work, music and quality relationships. At age 11 and living in Inglewood, California, her mother supported her wish to learn piano and paid 50 cents a lesson. Four years, she and her sister walked and transferred through 3 bus routes to Downton Los Angeles, where she fulfilled her dream to play. In recent years, as her lifespan concluded, one can understand her frustration with this world; having rode the bus as a young girl in Los Angeles and subsequently having to digest the news feed of current events streaming out of the city of her youth.

Calvin, whom Carol describes as a handsome baritone, also played the trumpet. They converged at Arizona Adventist Academy where hearts melted into one, never to wane. Their co-joined lives resolved dissonance into harmony. As they settled into studies at La Sierra College in Riverside, California, life got serious due to Calvin's impending draft into military service. They rushed their wedding so they could marry prior to Calvin's deployment into the Army to represent the USA in the Korean war. Carol sacrificed her degree to work and support their household during this season and following, so Calvin could finish his degree in business.

Carol's integrity, work ethic, field of vision, and personality, combined with an artistic flare, propelled her rapidly through every stage of a multi-faceted career. Her business acumen crescendoed into her final season as a commercial interior decorator in Riverside, California, where demand for her services exceeded time available. The combined business expertise of Calvin and Carol took them from struggling to fill the refrigerator, to enjoy traveling and accoutrements of success. This included extensive journeys throughout the world. They could have had more, but charitable souls required they share with church, charities, friends and loved ones. They were devout Seventh-Day-Adventists and set a high standard for service to our Lord in the local and global community of Christ.

Carol and Calvin raised 3 boys: James Allen, Jerald Arthur and John Stanley. All while working full time and juggling an active social, church and volunteer calendar. This developed in Riverside, California, where they owned separate businesses. When careers and boy raising wound down, they relocated to Cameron Park, CA, where they built their dream house on the golf course. The boys called it "The Resort" where they found Mom in the kitchen and Dad itching to golf. These were good years filled with volunteerism, travel and game nights.

Recognizing health and aging challenges, they moved to Walla Walla in 2019 to be near family. This timely decision had a providential outcome. Living on the same street as Jerry (and Georgia), Calvin and Carol navigated Covid unscathed and lived out their lives with sons and grandchildren circulating through to keep life functioning around them. Friday nights, Carol could fulfill her basic need to feed somebody, and the traditional bean soup dinner was a culinary foundation emblematic of her simple loving care. Here, her family could help hang flower baskets, climb ladders, hang lights, converse, laugh, cry and finally feed them both, as life skills were involuntarily taken.

Carol loved hard and many. We that remain, will envision her at the kitchen table with a view of her garden, a perfectly sliced apple on a plate waiting, a morning cup of joe, part coffee, part ½ and ½, steaming within reach, Bible open before her, hands clasped and head bowed, graciously thanking her Savior for the blessings he has bestowed and asking how she can serve Him this day. Then, with lips silently moving, lifting all of us in prayer for His protection and guidance.

Her prayers targeted those that remain: 3 sons; 6 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren, who provided some of the greatest joys of her life. Son Jim brought her Brendon, Jordan, and Allyson. From Jerry came Julia and Georgia. From John, Calin. Her great-grandchildren were progeny of Brendon (Harvey, Winnie, and Scottie) and Jordan (Oliver and Everly) and recently Allyson (Jay).

A memorial service will celebrate her life in the chapel at College Place Village Church on July 26, 2025 at 4:00 P.M. At a later date, the family will inter Calvin and Carol together at a private gathering at Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary in Colton, CA.

As much as Carol loved flowers, although her charitable targets were vast, her most recent focus was helping students studying at Walla Walla Valley Adventist Schools. In lieu of flowers, please direct a gift that can be made online at http://wwva.org/give. Please select The Student Aid Endowment. There could be no better way to express your love for Carol than joining her in supporting children.