MERCER ISLAND, WA (May 31, 2012) – A memorial service was conducted today for Lillian (Rendahl) Hanson, widow of Ralph Hanson, executive secretary emeritus of the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).
She died Monday.
Today’s service was conducted at Covenant Shores retirement community. Another memorial service will be conducted in California, but plans have not been completed.
Hanson, 94, was born April 11, 1918, in Oakland, California, and grew up attending the Covenant church there. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Berkeley, California. She later taught high school, including Presentation Girls’ High School in Berkeley, where she was the only non-Catholic faculty member at the time.
Hanson married her first husband, Woody Burnett, in 1945. He died in 1963. She later married Ernest Friesen in 1965. The couple adopted two daughters, Maria, and Kamala. Friesen died in 1984.
She became reacquainted with longtime family friend Ralph Hanson, and the couple was married in 1986. He died in 2006.
Survivors include her daughters Maria Kallmeyer and Kam Bullard.
Ralph and Lillian Hanson continued to the last to be visionaries for the proclamation of the Gospel. Ralph was a pioneer in many ways, from Alaska onward, and both encouraged young missionaries to pursue God’s vision in their lives. Thank God for the lives they lived! I am grateful for the encouragement Ralph gave me for continuing the mission of New Life Radio in Moscow, and Lillian was a treasure in the call of encouragement as well. Peace to their memories!