Mavis M. Hanson

In the loving care of her family, the staff at Bee Hive Homes, and Hospice of Missoula, Mavis Hanson passed peacefully of natural causes on May 3, 2014. Born June 20, 1926, in Havre, MT, she was reared in the small Hi-Line farming town of Kremlin, west of Havre, where her parents grew wheat and barley. By age 10, she had learned to drive a grain truck during harvest and help with other farm chores.
Mavis attended elementary and high school in Kremlin, graduating in 1944. An excellent student, she also sang in glee club, wrote for the school newspaper and played girls' basketball. After graduating, she moved to Havre and lived with her Aunt Molly and Uncle Albin Larson while attending Northern Montana College. She earned a two-year degree in Business in 1946 and then worked for the VA Guidance Center on campus. In March 1946 she attended a VFW dance with her uncle as chaperone where she met a handsome young man in a Navy uniform, James (Jim) Hanson, whom she married July 16, 1947. They built their first home in Havre where they welcomed two of their three children, Janice in 1950 and Russell in 1952. Jim worked for the Great Northern Railroad, and he moved the family to Great Falls in 1954 where they built another new house. In 1959, Julie was born, completing their family.
During their years in Great Falls, Mavis and Jim were active in the square and round dance community and, as a result, the family began taking vacations to dance events around the Northwest and in Canada, staying in their camp trailer. Their children especially enjoyed going to Old Faithful for the Knothead Jamboree and to Columbia Gardens where they rode the Carousel, flew in the planes, and screamed on the roller coaster while their parents danced the afternoons and nights away. Aside from special trips for dancing, the family spent many summer vacations camping. Through these trips, Mavis and Jim instilled a love of nature and the outdoors in their children. They moved to Missoula in 1981 and continued dancing and traveling throughout the US and Europe. Mavis was an active member of the women's service groups at St. Paul Lutheran Church and enjoyed giving her time to various projects of the church. Through her example, she also instilled the ethics of hard work and giving to others.
Mavis especially enjoyed sewing her own dance outfits, flower gardening, and baking. Her family will miss Mavis' homemade Norwegian delicacies and apple pies, the home she lovingly decorated for Christmas (tinsel hung strand by strand), her willingness to pitch in wherever help was needed, her support for all of us in whatever we did, and especially her "upside-down smile."
Mavis is preceded in death by her husband Jim, parents Clara and Clarence Bishop, and sister Donna LaFournaise. She is survived by children Janice Liane of Spokane, WA; Russell Hanson (Margie) of Phoenix; and Julie Brooks (Gary) of Missoula; six grandchildren—Jessika and Kirsten Liane, Erik and Emily Hanson, and Cameron and Cassidy Brooks; and two great-grandchildren, Paul III and Blakeley Jontig, children of Jessika Liane. Julie was Mavis' primary care coordinator and caregiver for the past several years and for that, Russ and Jan are eternally grateful.
Graveside service is scheduled for July 8 at 10:00 a.m. at the Montana State Veteran's Cemetery, 1911 Tower Road, Missoula, MT. Memorials may be sent to St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 Brooks, Missoula MT 59801, or Hospice of Missoula, 800 Kensington Ave, Missoula, MT 59801.

Read Mavis Hanson's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.