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Evelyn Christine Greenlaw Hanson Seamstress, Upholsterer, Saleswomen, Bookkeeper, Mother,
Grandmother and Great-Grandmother 2 November 1916 - 18 July 2005 Evelyn was born 2 November 1916 at the family farm, Cold Spring
Dairy on Clover Creek Road in Spanaway, Pierce, Washington. She was the
third child born to Loren Thomas
Greenlaw and Anna
Marie Luella Kuper. She grew up on
the dairy farm surrounded by her two older brothers, two younger sisters and
numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. She attended Clover Creek School
and graduated the eighth grade. Evelyn enjoyed growing up in rural Pierce county.
While her brothers rode motorcycles. She rode horses all around the
countryside. Her favorite destinations were Spanaway Lake and American
Lake. She related a tale of a Model A Ford truck, her brothers and a
very large burn pile. The kids were playing around the Ford and they
decided to go for a ride. Unfortunately, the boys had to crank the
engine while Evelyn worked the spark advance and throttle. She
was about eight years old and could reach most of the levers. Alfred
and Vernon got the motor running and the Ford took off. The Ford was
moving far faster than the boys could run, so off went Evelyn with the boys
in pursuit. The boys hadn't counted on the speed and Evelyn didn't know now
to work the clutch or brakes. After sometime the truck tore into the
burn pile and did some major damage to itself.
Daddy was not happy with the boys and never thought that his little daughter
was part of this disaster. The boys got punished for their collusion in the
affair. It wasn't until almost fourteen years later that Dad found out
that Evelyn had been driving the truck. Evelyn got to know her future husband, Alfred
Bernard Hanson, when he made regular trips to pick up the family dairy's
milk production. They married December 20, 1933 at the Elk Plain Grange
Hall. Evelyn and Al had four sons, Larry Bernard, Freddie Lee, Robert
Jay and James Richard Hanson. Evelyn and Al separated and later divorced
in 1955.
To earn
extra money, Evelyn started sewing clothing for others (Fashion by
Evelyn). While she was living in Shelton, Washington she began
upholstering furniture. Upholstery work took a heavy toll on her hands
and knees and she was forced into retirement due to arthritic joints. To keep herself busy, Evelyn continued to sew a few
garments usually for her own use and enjoyed crocheting and knitting, which
helped to keep her hands limber. Evelyn was a member of the Southern Baptist Church.
In Shelton her church was one of several Baptist churches in this small
town. Their building was a converted house. As their church grew,
they out grew the house and wanted to build a real church chapel.
Because they were a small group, they had to sell the
house in order to afford their building project. But if they sold
the house, where would they have their services? Evelyn knew the
Catholic priest at Saint Edwards and she got her preacher and Father Kiernan
talking about renting out the catholic church's basement. This
arrangement worked very well for both churches. Father Kiernan's only
comment was the Baptist were much better singers than his catholic
parishioners. In the nineteen eighties, Evelyn started taking frequent
trips to Florida to visit her son, James and his family, Pat, Stephany and
Jay. On one of the earlier trips, Stephany's
friend, Lori Temple accompanied Evelyn. It was Lori's first flight and
she had a very nervous father in Shelton worried sick about his only daughter
flying across country. James showed up early at the gate to greet the
two. As the plane from Atlanta emptied there was no sign of the
two travelers. James asked the gate attendant if everyone was off the
plane. She had someone check. No more passengers were on the
plane. James had the attendant check on the status of Evelyn and
Lori. After several minutes of typing and frequent "huhs!", the attendant said
that Evelyn and Lori were in Omaha. This was very unusual since the
airline didn't have flights to Omaha. Their flight from Seattle to
Atlanta had a mechanical problem and they landed at the nearest
airport. Since the airline didn't have facilities in Omaha, they had to
bring the parts from elsewhere to repair their plane. Evelyn and Lori
had to spend the night in Omaha and James had to explain this to Lori's
father. All ended well the next day, when Evelyn and Lori arrived in
Jacksonville. However, the plane trip adventure continued for Evelyn's
cat, Angie. In Atlanta, Angie was transferred to the wrong connecting
flight and she ended up in Miami, Florida. Angie arrived filthy and
disheveled, later the next day. Over the next thirteen years, Evelyn became increasingly
handicapped by arthritis and she lost vision in her left eye. Evelyn's
last airline trip was to her granddaughter Stephany's wedding in Shreveport,
Louisiana in 1997. For the second time Lori accompanied Evelyn.
Lori helped Evelyn maneuver the flight changes and find the
gates. Lori said it was the best because Evelyn couldn't walk very far,
so they were driven everywhere with Evelyn cracking jokes the whole way. Evelyn's cats were very important to her. As a child
she was traumatized when her brothers threw a live mouse at her and it went
down the front of her blouse. She couldn't even touch fur without
becoming overly excited. Eventually, she became so anxious, that she
fainted after accidentally touching a strip of fur. Her doctor
recommended that she get a cat, so that she could become comfortable with
fur. Evelyn and her son, James went to the Tacoma Humane Society
and adopted a long hair white cat. It was several weeks before she
could even touch the cat. The cat kept coming up to her for attention
and she would bravely try to pet her. Evelyn finally became able to
have the cat lay in her lap. That's how Princess became a member of the
family. Obit Evelyn
Christine (Greenlaw) Hanson Born
on the family farm, Cold Spring Dairy on Clover Creek Road, Spanaway on 2
November 1916 passed away in Olympia on 18 July 2005. She was preceded
in death by her parents, Pierce county pioneer family members Loren T. and
Anna Marie Luella (Kuper) Greenlaw, two brothers,
Alfred Lawrence and Vernon Wesley Greenlaw, grandson Gregory Hanson and
granddaughter, Pamela Hanson. Evelyn grew up on the dairy farm now
occupied partly by Boeing Company and she attended Clover Creek
School. She taught sewing for the Singer Company and was a well known seamstress and upholsterer before her
retirement. She lived in many area communities, including Puyallup, Tacoma,
Lakewood and Shelton, and spent short periods of time in the states of
Missouri and Kentucky before moving to a retirement community in Olympia
during the early 1980’s. She is survived by her four sons and their
wives: Larry and Carole of Kennewick, Fred and Melody of Olympia, Robert and
Lily of Tacoma, and James and Patricia of Jacksonville, Florida; two sisters,
Lorraine Caulfield of Anchorage, Alaska and Lucille Nilsen of Port Ludlow,
her maternal Aunt Irene Morris of University Place, 10 grandchildren, 17
great-grandchildren, five step-grandchildren, 12 step-great-grandchildren,
several nieces, nephews and numerous cousins.
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