Birgit Hanson

1931 - 2025

Birgit Hanson

April 12, 1931 - February 27, 2025

Birgit L Hanson, age 93, of Hayward, WI and Sun City West, AZ, passed away peacefully on Thursday, February 27, 2025 in Ljungby, Sweden.

Birgit Linnéa, Bebe, was born April 12, 1931 in Ljungby, Sweden, the daughter of Carl and Ebba (Johansson) Andersson. She was the second oldest of five children. She was raised in Ljungby and graduated from high school in 1948. She started to work at the local newspaper office and after a few years Bebe moved to Jonkoping and worked at the office of a car company. In order to improve her English, she went to live a couple of years with her aunt Vera (Ebba's sister) who lived in Jamestown, NY with her husband John. Bebe's uncle Oscar (Carl's brother) lived in Rockford, IL with his wife Hulda, so Bebe was able to live with her Swedish relatives at that time. Vera and Oscar had emigrated from Ljungby to America in the beginning of the 1900's.

In the late 1950's, Bebe got a job at an insurance company in Minneapolis and started her new life there. She went back to Sweden in 1964 for a short period and worked at the office of a plastic fabric company in Ljungby. In 1964 she also went to the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria together with her sister Gun and friend Beverly. Bebe met Howard Hanson during that time, and on October 17, 1970, they got married and they began their new life together in Hayward, WI. She opened the Swedish Gift Shop and ran it for many years, into the 1990's. Many were the travels back and forth to Sweden during those years, shopping gifts for resale in her shop. After retiring, Bebe and Howard spent many winters throughout the following years in Sun City West, AZ, returning to enjoy their home on Round Lake for the summers.

Bebe had a great interest in sports from an early age. She enjoyed cycling, swimming, skiing - waterskiing, downhill and cross country. She was involved in the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation and Race for many years. She actually competed in the very first race in 1973 and finished in third place among the women. Other great interests were sewing, knitting and quilting and she participated in many exhibitions with her crafts. She loved to travel and made many travels within the USA but also to Europe together with Howard and friends.

After Howard's passing in 2015, Bebe decided to return to her roots in Sweden. She moved back to her hometown Ljungby in Dec 2016 and had a few good years among her family and friends there. In 2022, she moved to a nursing home because she suffered from dementia.

Bebe will be remembered as a warm, caring, generous and fun person. She had many stories to tell about the adventures of her life and she always ended them with a good laugh. She was very social and had many friends, and she was very keen to maintain contact well into old age.

She was preceded in death by parents, husband Howard and brothers Paul, Arne and Stig. She is survived by her sister Gun Granton, nieces and nephews in Sweden and American descendants of her uncle Oscar. Bebe's extended American family includes her sister-in-law Ardys Jereski and a niece and nephew.

A funeral service was held in the Equmenia Church in Ljungby, Sweden, on March 27, 2025. Interment will be in the Greenwood Cemetery, Hayward, WI.