Emma Hall Manley Hanner

HANNER THOMASVILLE - Emma Hall Manley Hanner of Thomasville, was a pilot, a mother and a friend. She loved flying more than anything except her children, and sometimes even that was a close call. She loved flying more than a big bowl of Neapolitan ice cream, more than the stash of chocolate candies she kept in the little drawer beside her recliner, more than a good round of golf, or lunch at the K&W Cafeteria, or Saturday night supper and laughs with her friends, Mary Wiggin and Rick and Maria Carreiro. And she loved all those things a lot. But flying was the thing. If she wasn't above the Earth in her little Grumman airplane, she was reading a flying magazine or thumbing through Trade-A-Plane just in case there was some great deal on another airplane that might make her give up her Grummy for another. She never did. She gave up her airplane at the age of 79 only because she knew it was time, and it may have been the biggest loss of her life, right up there with her divorce from Dr. Lee Hanner, the handsome, black-haired optometrist who asked her to marry him when they were both 23. She says he proposed because he was afraid to go to Germany by himself when the Army gave him his orders. But she loved him, because he was a gentle, fun, 6-foot-4 baby of a man. Lee and Emma came home from Germany in 1953 with a 6-week-old baby named Dale Robert. Emma took care of Lee while he began his optometry practice in Thomasville. In 1957, Emma had Caroline Louise, who almost never cried, then in 1959 cherub-faced Rebecca Lee, who always made her laugh. Emma died Friday, June 25, 2010, at age 81, not really from the Alzheimer's that robbed her ability to do the things she enjoyed, but more from a weary spirit. She just didn't want to be here anymore, and her family can say with smiles on their faces and no trace of disrespect that they are happy that Emma has gone to that great airport in the sky. She was too smart and too independent to suffer the indignities of this creeping, cruel disease. Emma spent only six months at The Stratford at Flatirons, a wonderful assisted-living facility in Broomfield, Colorado, where she was treated with great love and kindness. But her body withered, her appetite disappeared and she became so frail that a bout of pneumonia did her in. But Emma said she had no regrets. She said she'd done the things she wanted to do. In her last days, Emma's face took on the shiny, rosy-cheeked smile that made her look like the photographs of her when she was a skinny, big-kneed, tow-headed blonde girl with wide blue eyes who grew up in Summerville, S.C., and Asheville, N.C., with her older sister, Mary Louise "Weasel" Rhodes. Emma learned to drive a stick-shift on the steep hills of Asheville and went off to Duke University, where she earned a degree in mathematics. She raised her three children in Thomasville, giving them everything children could want from a mother. When her son took flying lessons at age 15 and went off to the Air Force Academy, she decided she could chase her lifelong dream of learning to fly. She logged more than 3,700 hours in the air. She was a direct descendant of John and Abigail Adams, and she wasn't afraid of anything. She worked for an air cargo company, transporting bank checks from eastern North Carolina to Raleigh and flew around the country to teach instrument rating courses to wealthy people. Emma made her friends and children laugh. She gave money to every charity that asked for it. She once found a woman crying outside a bank after fleeing from an abusive husband. Emma paid for her motel room, took her shopping for groceries and hooked her up with a women's shelter. Emma was loved, and we will miss her. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Lt. Col. Dale R. and Bonita Hanner of Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; her daughter and son-in-law, Caroline L. Hanner and Dave Monfore of Clemmons; her daughter and son-in-law, Rebecca and Fred Oliva of Westminster, CO; her sister, Mary Louise Rhodes of Greensboro; her niece, Julie Rhodes Myrick of Greensboro; her nephew, Chip Rhodes of Littleton, CO; and her grandchildren, Andrea Hanner of Thomasville, Traci Hanner of Denver, and Lauren, Ryan and Matthew Oliva of Westminster, CO. Emma was cremated, according to her wishes. Her family will hold a Memorial Service at 8:30 a.m., July 16 at Memorial Methodist Church in Thomasville. Those who wish to honor her may send a donation to Ruff Love Dog Rescue, care of Carol Hanner, 380 Knollwood St., Suite H-341, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27103, or the Alzheimer's Association, 3800 Shamrock Drive, Charlotte, N.C. 28215-3220.