Marlene Hanson

Marlene Hanson age 86 of Nashua, IA died Saturday, February 15, 2020, at 11th Street Chautauqua Guest Home in Charles City, IA. Funeral services will be held 10:00 a.m. Saturday, February 22, 2020, at The Little Brown Church in Nashua with Rev. Drew McHolm presiding. Interment will be held in Greenwood Cemetery, Nashua with Robert Hanson, Wayne Hollenbaugh, Aaron Hollenbaugh, Mark Hollenbaugh, Chris Freiberg, and Bill Beach serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Rex and Gary Kalvig. Friends may greet the family from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Friday, February 21, 2020, at Hugeback Johnson Funeral Home & Crematory - Olson Chapel in Nashua where there will be a 6:30 p.m. Eastern Star Service. Visitation continues an hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Marlene Hanson’s remarkable life began on Sept. 18, 1933, when she was born on the farm her parents, William and Edna (Mitchell) Beach, rented near Plainfield. She was the youngest of five children and grew up a farm girl — helping her parents in any way she could while attending country school through the eighth grade. She then transferred to Nashua High School, where she was a member of the Class of 1951. Following school, she took a job as an operator with the old Charles City Telephone Company, where she connected calls to various “party lines” throughout the area. Sometime after high school, she met Elvin Hanson, who was doing some business with her father. Eventually, the two began dating, fell in love and were married in 1954. They settled on a farm in the Republic area and began raising a family that grew to five with the births of Mary, Ann, and Robert. Her children remember their mom as a hard-working farm wife who pitched in everywhere. She’d get up in the morning, help milk the cows, make sure her children had a good breakfast before the school bus arrived, worked with Elvin in the fields during the day and then helped milk again at night. Yet, every single night, somehow Marlene put a full, not to mention delicious, supper on the table for her family. Their mother was also supportive of all their school activities and never missed an event. She enjoyed going to listen to the “B Sharp Combo,” whose trumpet player was her favorite and just happened to be her husband. Marlene and Elvin also liked to dance and play cards with their neighbors, but both of them were farmers at heart. In her younger years, Marlene raised chicken and ducks, and she always had a big garden that included both vegetables and flowers. Marlene was an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star, first in Nashua and then in Waverly, and she loved The Little Brown Church, where she was a member who attended Sunday School and was a member of the Ladies Fellowship Group for much of her adult life. She adored her five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, and there was no better day than those when they came to visit her on the farm. Marlene lost her husband several years ago but remained on the farm until last March when health issues forced her to move to the 11th Street Chautauqua Guest Home in Charles City. Her family and friends are saddened that this wonderful woman who taught them the value of hard work and responsibility and who made the best old-fashioned homemade ice cream (trust us, there was nothing better than seeing Marlene working the crank on the old machine), but she is now reunited with her loving Elvin. Marlene is survived by one son, Robert Hanson of La Crescent, MN; two daughters, Mary (Wayne) Hollenbaugh of Prince George, VA, and Ann Freiberg of Charles City, IA; 5 grandchildren, Chris (Brianna) Freiberg, Maddie (Tom Standish) Freiberg, Amy (Kenny) Gillespie, Mark (Cassie) Hollenbaugh, and Aaron (Elizabeth) Hollenbaugh; 7 great-grandchildren, Noah, and Elijah Gillespie, Ezra Hollenbaugh, Lazarus Hollenbaugh, Silas, Lydia, and Ellie Freiburg; beloved sister-in-law, Betty Beach; and many loved nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Elvin in 2012; two brothers, Bill and Cliff (Eleanor) Beach; two sisters, Bernice (Jerry) Bishop, Gladys (Raymond) Lynn;