Ann Christine Sellers Hanson, RN, born July 20, 1945, passed away Monday August 29th, 2016 at the age of 71, in Caldwell, Idaho. She was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Richard Sellers and Helyn Christine Hansen Sellers. She was the oldest child of 5. She grew up a military brat traveling all over the USA and other countries. She spent several years of her childhood in Guam and Puerto Rico with her siblings and parents. Her father was in the Darby’s Rangers in WWII, the Army and Air Force. She lived in Bend, Oregon, Georgia, Florida and New Hampshire. Because they moved so much, she truly discovered the importance of family and her sister was her best friend growing up. She graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1963. From there she returned to her birth place in Council Bluffs, Iowa where she was the first one ever in her family to go to college. She attended Jennie Edmunson Memorial Hospital where she began a career as one of the most brilliant nurses. She received her associate’s degree in nursing in 1966, and practiced there for several years.
In her first year of college she met her husband of 10 years, Kenneth Lee Hanson at the Chicken Hut in Harlan, Iowa. They married in Harlan in 1966, and her husband enlisted in the Air Force where they were then stationed in Omaha, Nebraska. During the Vietnam War they moved and she spent a year in Puerto Rico, again. From there, they moved to Hawthorne, California and she worked as a nurse there at Hawthorne Community Hospital. She soon started a family and had 3 amazing, beautiful daughters. She and Ken divorced, where She then moved back to Bend, Oregon to be near her parents and siblings. She stayed in Bend from 1977 to 2002 working at St. Charles Medical Center. She became a critical care nurse, worked on major traumas, served as a charge nurse of her unit, worked on the post-op heart patients, and then went on to do chart auditing.
During the late 80’s she developed breast cancer and survived. In 2002 she got it again and beat it a 2nd time. It was an understatement to say she was a survivor and taught her daughters to be the same and completely independent. She alone encouraged, and demanded all three of her daughters to go to college and supported them all in obtaining degrees, so that they would always “stand on their own”. In 2003 she followed her 2 nd daughter to Kuna, Idaho where eventually her other 2 daughters came to settle as well. She put a pool into her backyard for her grandkids to enjoy, as family was everything. She continued her nursing career where she did dialysis for a couple years and then ended her career as a hospice nurse – her favorite specialty. In 2006 she also became a partner at the Dancing Dog Coffee House, in Meridian, Idaho with her oldest daughter, and in the Last Impressions Childcare Center in Kuna, Idaho with her 2nd daughter. She loved going into the coffee shop on weekends and making her famous pie crust and talking to patrons. In 2009 she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which eventually ended her life with a stroke. Even in the nursing home in Caldwell, the staff reported she continued to be that charge nurse, bossing the nurses around, “charting”, and “keeping an eye on them” ensuring they were all doing their jobs or she would report them to their supervisor.
Ann had so many hobbies: she was a talented painter and sketcher. She loved to write. She was an avid reader and could finish a book in a day. She enjoyed cross-country skiing with her daughters. She loved going camping, fishing and taught her girls all of it. She loved to travel, going on several cruises to the Western Caribbean and Alaska twice, wine tasting, walking the beach, learning about Egyptian anything, art exhibits, archeology, and hunting arrowheads in the desert. She loved to just take drives, explore, going to the mountains, the desert and the coast. She loved the Oregon Coast, which will become her final resting place. She completed the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in Boise 5K with her daughters Amy and Cheryl 2 years in a row. She really loved to cook where she was extremely talented, and was a wonderful Chef. She also enjoyed baking, gardening, loved to play golf and loved Christmas time with all the snow. She would take her daughter’s out to cut down a Christmas tree as she loved the fresh smell of evergreens. She was all about tradition, her Danish heritage, and most of all friends and Family. Her greatest joy and accomplishment of all time was her 3 daughters and 6 grandchildren. They are her greatest legacy – that and her pie crust.
She is preceded in death by her parents and grandparents, her brother, David Sellers, who was a great loss to her, and her beloved dogs Winston and Suki. Her survivors include: Her oldest daughter Amy Christine Hanson and her children Jamy, Daniel and Kimberly, her 2 nd daughter Cheryl Lynn Hanson and her sons Spencer, Cameron, and David, and her youngest Diane Marie Penney (Brady) all of Boise, Idaho; her Sister Peggy (Ed), brother Mike (Linda), and brother John, and multiple nieces and nephews all of Bend, Oregon, and her greatest friends in the world who were sisters to her: Gail Wilson, Mary Johnson, Margo Alvis and husband Gary, and Karen Casey.
Her service in Idaho will be September 17th 10am at the Church of God on Cloverdale, with a reception to follow at Amy’s house. A service in Bend is pending at this time at the end of October, but will be announced on the Bella Vida Funeral Home website. Ann will be cremated per her wishes and her ashes spread over the beautiful Pacific Ocean on the Oregon Coast as she requested. This will be a private ceremony at the end of October with her daughters, and grandchildren. Please honor her by sending a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association 6126 W State St, Ste 407, Boise, ID 83703, in her name so that maybe one day a cure can be found, but at least other families can be supported who are dealing with this dreadful disease. Bella Vida Funeral Home on Chinden in Boise, Idaho is in charge of arrangements.
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