Lola G. Hanson

Lola Giedd Hanson, born February 5, 1922, died July 8, 2023 at age 101. She is survived by her son, Mike, daughter, Leslie, stepsons Guy (Maureen) and Lee (Liz), grand-children, great grand-children, cousin, Julie, nephews Kenny, Pat, Casey, & Tom, niece Betsy, and many grand nephews and nieces and their children.

Lola was born in Avon, South Dakota, crossed the Mississippi with her parents and brothers and sister to move to St. Petersburg in 1937, to Virginia, back to St. Petersburg where she grew to adulthood, married, adopted two children, and settled in Tampa in 1955. She did volunteer work for her church and various other organizations and raised her family.

She was witness to many things in her 101 years. One brother survived the Spanish flu in 1920 and she survived Covid in 2022. She was witness to the end of the Russian Revolution, WW II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. She was proud of her military warrior father, brother, and son. She was witness to many technological advances, cultural changes, world crises, assassinations of world leaders, natural and man-made disasters, and experienced many personal dreams, sacrifices, and successes.

As a young woman she was a skipper at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club where she won many races with the fish class sailboats and did volunteer work for the USO. She was a member of the Women's Club (St. Petersburg), the Tampa Garden Club (Beach Park, Palma Ceia), and a board member of the Children's Home (Tampa). She taught Sunday school, was a puppet chairman at the Jr. League, and was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader.

Lola was an artist, artisan, avid gardener, loyal church member, puppeteer, reader, garden club member. She painted with oils, acrylics, and did water colors. She wove baskets, knitted, crocheted, did pastels, pottery, and ceramics and had a deep love of sewing. She loved museums and art shows and her dream vacations involved going to the beach or the mountains or anywhere else she could enjoy new experiences and see new scenery to paint.

She was a good, strong, faithful, determined woman whose church, community and cultural commitments, and family were of upmost importance to her. She forged many loving lifelong friendships in her 101 years. She regarded her family, friends, and pets as the most important things in her life. She was deeply, dearly loved and will be missed by many.

A memorial service will take place in October of 2023. She was a member of St. Mary' s Episcopal Church, Tampa, Fla. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.