Ruth T. Hanson, 87, Dodge Center
Mon, 11/14/2022 - 1:32pm
admin
Ruth T. Hanson, 87, of Dodge Center, passed away Wednesday, Nov. 9, at Fairview Care Center in Dodge Center.
She was born March 7, 1935, in Liberia, West Africa, to Robert and Elizabeth Dickerson while her father was doing mission work there. She grew up in several cities in the U.S., and graduated from Clinton High School in Clinton, Iowa.
She attended Iowa State University, where she was in the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree. There, she met her future husband, David. They were married on June 16, 1957, in Clinton. The couple moved in 1966 to Dodge Center, where David was a University of Minnesota Extension director. They moved in 1971 to a small farm outside Dodge Center, later named Hanson Apple Acres. David continues to live there amid apple orchards.
The couple had five children. Ruth worked as a Head Start teacher and a newspaper reporter and photographer.
She worked at the Byron Review newspaper for 29 years, through age 82. She won a number of contest awards, and was inducted into the Byron High School Sports Hall of Fame for her journalistic work. She and David also were inducted into the Triton High School Sports Hall of Fame for their support of teams going back to the 1960s. She taught piano lessons over several decades.
Ruth was involved at St. Peter’s Church in Kasson from the 1960s until she moved to the care center in 2019. She was the organist at St. Peter’s for more than 35 years.
Ruth deeply grieved the death of her oldest child, Cindy, to cancer in 2014. At her room at Fairview Care Center, she kept a portrait of Cindy above the head of her bed.
Ruth was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Margaret; a daughter, Cindy; and a granddaughter, Britta. She is survived by her husband; a sister, Elizabeth Wolter (Jack), of Prescott, Ariz.; brother-in-law George Ellison (Elizabeth), of San Diego; her children, Ken, of Rochester; Bob (Wendy), of Hudson, Wis.; Jim (Barb), of Lake Elmo; and Deb Achenbach (Rodney), of Maple Grove; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 19 at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 101 First St. NE, Kasson, with the Rev. Alice Mae Applequist officiating. Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, November 18 at the church, and one hour before the service.
Arrangements are by Dibble Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Kasson; online condolences may be shared at www.dibblefuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Fairview Care Center, Dodge Center, MN. The family wishes to thank the staffs of the care center and St. Croix Hospice for their compassionate care for Ruth.