Ramon Lyle Hanson

Ramon Lyle Hanson, 93, a Chicago lawyer, insurance regulator and financial planner who began his life as a South Dakota small town boy during the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression, died on December 10, 2017, at the Good Shepherd Lutheran home in Rushford, Minn.

A singer with a strong baritone voice, Ray was a hard worker dedicated to his clients, a church-going Protestant and a darn good cook who could whip up a Western omelet for two or a pot of oyster stew for a big group on Christmas Eve. He was a writer, an avid reader, a student of Western history and Native American culture, an irreverent political thinker, a frugal and responsible family man, caring father, a bit of a curmudgeon, a drinker of martinis and Old Milwaukee beer, an honest businessman, a good listener, a lifelong liberal Democrat and a companionable friend to many.

Born at home on September 20, 1924, Ray was the youngest child of Walter and Hazel (Martin) Hanson. Just before Walter´s untimely death of appendicitis the same year Ray was born, Walter and Hazel moved with their three children, Eithal, Evelyn and Ramon, from the family’s homestead farm, located within the borders of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, into the nearby ton of McIntosh, S.D. where Ray lived until he graduated from high school.

Ray attended Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen, S.D., before moving to Illinois, where he earned his bachelor’s degree at Illinois State University at Normal.

He married Betty Louise Williamson on June 11, 1949, at the First Congregational Church of Des Plaines, Ill. They were divorced in 1971.

Following a year of service as a special agent in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps, Ray attended law school on the GI Bill. He received his juris doctor degree at Northwestern University in 1950. He later earned a master of laws degree, specializing in taxation and estate planning, from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Ray worked as a deputy in the State of Illinois Department of Insurance and later became a financial planner and investment advisor. He spent several years as an assistant staff judge advocate in the 33rd Infantry Division of the Illinois National Guard.

Ray loved his retirement years in Lanesboro. He looked forward to his coffee time with the Rusty Five and his meals with the men’s ecumenical breakfast group. He enjoyed attending the Over the Back Fence radio show and plays at Commonweal Theatre. He served as treasurer of the Lanesboro Methodist church and later joined the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Lanesboro. He served as a member of the Lanesboro Library Board.

He also enjoyed volunteering at the Lanesboro school, listening one-on-one to first grade readers. He researched his family history and wrote a memoir of his growing up years in South Dakota.

During the last years of his life, Ray was not able to live independently, due to advancing dementia and significant visual and hearing impairments. Despite his many challenges, Ray maintained a positive, loving and accepting attitude up to the end of his life. He found enjoyment in every day. Ray’s family is very grateful to the many dedicated caregivers who assisted Ray so he could remain at home with his oldest daughter and her husband until just seven weeks before his death. His family thanks Preston Good Samaritan Home Care – especially Karen Lawstuen, Traditions Assisted Living (respite care), St. Croix Hospice and Good Shepherd nursing home in Rushford. His children especially thank Frank Wright, Ray’s oldest son-in-law, for his unwavering patience, kindness, sense of humor, and competence as a physical and emotional caregiver for Ray for almost eight years.

Survivors are his four children: Peggy Hanson (Frank Wright) of Lanesboro, Marty Hanson (Ellen Hufnagl) of Florstadt, Germany, Barbara Parikh (Neil) of Skokie, Ill.,, and Joyce Hanson (David McGillan) of Brooklyn, N. Y.; and six grandchildren: Daniel Flicker, Charlie Addicks, Britta Hanson, Lars Hanson, Grace Parikh and Gordon Parikh.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 13, 2018, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, with visitation one hour before the service and refreshments at Ray’s home in Lanesboro after the service. Ray requested that any memorial donations be directed to Friends of the Lanesboro Library.

Next summer, Ray’s family will carry his ashes to the little cemetery on the windswept prairie just outside McIntosh, S. Dak., where he will rest near the father he never knew and be part of the place he never left in his heart.