Thelma Dunn Hansen

The unstoppable Thelma Loudenbeck Dunn Hansen finally came to rest on June 8, 2020, just eight months short of her hundredth birthday. Beloved matriarch of the Dunn, Robertson, and Hansen families, Thelma was the consummate hostess, the queen of organization, pragmatic, caring, efficient, … and blessed with such determined energy that friends referred to her as an Energizer Bunny.

She was a woman of contrasts: a Maple Rapids farm girl educated in a one-room schoolhouse who became a world traveler and visited more than 50 countries; a frugal Depression-era kid who showered her family and worthy organizations with astonishing generosity; a university faculty member who took pride in her accolade-filled career at Michigan State’s College of Human Ecology, but viewed her family as her proudest achievement. She had strong opinions, but was always willing to listen and learn new things. She sometimes eschewed change—her classic coiffure was a fixture for three-quarters of a century—but often embraced it: At age 99, she was proudly posting Facebook messages on her brand-new computer.

Nothing ever kept her down. After losing her young WWII fighter-pilot husband, Kenneth Dunn, in a tragic car accident that left her raising a toddler and a baby alone, she started grad school and a new career at Michigan State, determined not to let tragedy define her. When she remarried in 1960 to Clarence Hansen and faced the challenge of blending two families, she threw herself into the project, and found great joy in the fact that, years later, all four kids and their children are still eager to spend time together. In recent times, when she fell and broke her hip on her way into church, she got back up, attended the entire hourlong bible study with a broken hip, then came out and calmly drove herself to urgent care.

She loved to bring people together, entertaining countless foreign exchange students who became lifelong friends, frequently organizing family gatherings at home and at the family cottage, and laughing to the point of tears at the antics of her kids and grandkids in annual talent shows (even when the “talent” was decidedly questionable). She saw it as her responsibility to keep the family connected, and she devoted herself to the cause with boundless energy.

An eager, lifelong learner, she attended college and grad school in an era when many women did neither. With her husband, Clarence, she co-led an exchange program to the Soviet Union, participated in an exchange program in Japan, and funded countless scholarships for students at Michigan State University. Thelma was still attending classes at Burcham Hills and at her church —and taking notes!—until the Covid pandemic put an end to the classes.

Thelma maintained a tremendous network of friendships throughout her life, and credited them in part for her longevity. (She always said that as you age, you need to make younger friends, or you won’t have any friends left.) Her dear friend Louise Sternberg, with whom she shared an eighty-year friendship, passed away just two days before she did… so while we are heartbroken at the loss of Thelma, we take heart in knowing that “Thelma and Louise” are setting off on their next grand adventure together.

Thelma was preceded in death by her husbands, her parents, and two siblings, Kenneth E. Loudenbeck and Glenna Miller. She is survived by her brother, Max Loudenbeck (Donna); sister-in-law, Mary Eppelheimer; her four children, Charles Hansen (Mary), Ann Dunn Robertson (Shelby), Dennis Hansen (Barbara), Marvin Dunn (Peggy); nine grandchildren; and twenty-one greatgrandchildren (and Thelma knew every one of their names and birthdates from memory).

The family is eternally grateful for the many years of extraordinary care and friendship Thelma received from Dr. Heidi Johnson; Elizabeth Eaton, RN; Dr. Richard Stillwill, DDS, and the staff of Burcham Hills Retirement Center. The family is being served by Gorsline-Runciman Funeral Homes in East Lansing. Donations in memory of Thelma may be given to the New Organ Fund at The Peoples Church, (200 W Grand River, East Lansing, MI 48823) where she was a faithful, active member for 79 years.

An extended graveside service will be held at 2:00 on Saturday, August 15th, at the Rutland Charter Township Cemetery near Hastings Michigan.

We suggest you bring a chair and an umbrella (for rain or sun) for comfort.

We expect everyone to wear a mask, as gathering around the grave site will make 6ft social distancing impossible.

For directions contact Marv Dunn, [email protected].

A memorial/celebration of life service will be held next June near the anniversary of Thelma's death.