Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

Shirley A. Hanson, 91, of Parker, CO, passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by family on June 10, 2022.

 

The Life Story of Shirley Ann Hanson

 

Shirley was born on August 13, 1930, in Highland Park, Illinois hospital, to Louis and Helen McOmber.

At that time, she joined her sister, Alyce (now deceased), and later her two brothers, Frank and William.

 

Shirley attended the Catholic school in Highland Park for grades 1 to 8. She then transferred to Highland

Park school system and graduated in May 1948.

 

Immediately, she was employed for a brief period at Abbott Laboratories. Later she was employed as

the secretary to the commandant of administration of the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. This was the start

of her prosperous destiny upon the earth, for the kingdom of God.

 

Her desk was positioned in the front of the commandant's office. Shirley was visible to many of the

office personnel. However, there was one corpsman who came by every A.M to deliver his report for

the Dependent's Hospital that he was in charge of, and he passed by Shirley with a hello and smile.

Shirley wanted to meet this corpsman that she thought was "stuck up", "egotistical", "self-involved" and

so let us begin with this process. Through his many friends she had, this encouraged him to attend this

office party on St Patrick's Day, when the military and civilians had their annual celebration. His answer

was "no", I am a Norwegian and do not celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

 

He finally agreed after a chief Officer friend of his offered his car. His response however was that

everyone there would have a date and he would not be staying long. He went to the dance and sat at a

table; Shirley sat down beside him. They talked and danced for hours. This was the beginning of 71

years of a bonded marriage.

 

He asked if he could take her home and she stated she was with Ray Burbey. So, he went and talked to

Ray and Ray agreed that this young corpsman could take Shirley home. This is the first of many dates.

 

This corpsman' name was Carl Hanson from Northern Minnesota and a country boy. Shirley was

unaware that the Lord spoke audibly to him that he would marry her.

 

After dating for a year, Shirley and Carl were married on March 31, 1951. Shirley became pregnant on their

honeymoon, and they anticipated Carl's discharge on August 3, 1951. Those plans were interrupted as the

navy in July informed Carl they had extended his enlistment for another year, and he was assigned to go

to Korea for a year with the 1st Marine division as a corpsman. After some military confusion, Carl was

assigned to the USS Iowa with 60 marines. In November, the ship is on its way to Korea, and it breaks

down, so it returns to Long Beach for repairs, which take 45 days.

 

Carl asked for a leave and was informed that only 3-day passes were being given. He utilized this 3-day pass to

arrive in Highland Park to be with Shirley. Every 3 days Carl makes a phone call to the Lt and extension

was given. Then in January 1952 Michele Marie was born. Carl made another phone call and was

informed that the ship was leaving in 3 days. Carl had to leave his new wife and baby girl.

 

After one year, Carl returned from Korea and the family is united again. Carl immediately started at the

University of Minnesota school of Pharmacy (a 4-year course). The GI bill covered only registration and

books and some of the daily expenses. So, Shirley took a job at Federal Cartridge, from 12 midnight to Sam.

After some time, Carl saw that Shirley was losing weight and encouraged her to quit. He would be able

to cover the expenses as the GI housing was affordable, even though it wasn't the best

accommodations. Winters were -35 degrees, the heat often failed to keep the main part of the barracks

at 75 degrees. The bedrooms for the children were 45 degrees. Shirley piled rugs by the doors and

spent time with the children on the couch. And yes, our family increased - now there was Michele as

well as Michael and Melissa.

 

At graduation, the family consisted of Michele, Michael, Melissa, and Shirley was pregnant with

Marlene.

 

Carl got registered and licensed in the state of Minnesota and was hired at a hospital pharmacy. Carl

and Shirley searched for a rental home and at that time no one wanted to rent to families with children.

Shirley suggested that we buy a house. At that time, we did not have a checking or even a savings

account. Shirley's prayers and faith again persisted and her love stood firm. A deal was made with

Marvin Anderson Construction Co to make payments for the down payment.

 

Shirley went to live with her parents for several months, then with Carl's parents for several months

while Carl stayed with his sister and family. During which time Carl had several jobs and was able to

make the payments. The March delivery time for Marlene was coming up and the house would not be

completed on time. Since Shirley had to be in a house by January, Carl started reading the Minneapolis, MN

Newspaper rental section. Again, Shirley's prayers, faith, and grace of the Lord; a 1/2 page ad appeared

"rent to family with children" and Carl acted on it asap. A visit to a law firm confirmed this blessing. It

was stated the rent was what you could afford to pay, no damage deposit, and could be rented until new

home was completed. In March 1957 Marlene arrived and so did the house on Russel Ave in

Bloomington, the completed split-level home - a miracle and a blessing.

 

In this home our family grew to include Michele, Michael, Melissa, Marlene and, eventually, Melodee,

Mary Margaret, Mark, Matthew, and Martin Jon. After several moves, following a trail of several

different jobs and cities, Shirley kept the family together. Eventually ending up in Colorado.

 

Carl and Shirley found a rental home in Parker, Co with a lease option to buy with 40 acres. At this time

the remaining children at home were Mary Margaret, Matthew and Martin Jon. Martin Jon was

severely autistic and in need of special attention and love which Shirley provided for 50 years. Martin

Jon is now with the Lord and his loving mother.

 

A neighbor taught (Martin) Jon to ride a horse and Shirley saw a great improvement in Jon. She said

we had to start an equine center and offer this treatment to more special needs people. Shirley

announced to the community in 1987 from the pulpit at United Parker Methodist church that we were

starting Praying Hands Ranches. This was the start of Shirley's vision of her faith, prayers and love of the

special-needs to include a center for an indoor riding arena to be able to operate year-round. PHR

would be Christian based on the scripture Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ Jesus who

gives me all strength". Shirley was director for 40 years with Praying Hands Ranch with no monetary

compensation. She ran Praying Hands Ranch with love for the clients and the Lord. This she did until

the Lord called her home.

 

Shirley's faith, prayers, love of the Lord and perseverance have produced a state-of-the-art Equine

treatment center capable of offering the needed help to many of the special-needs populace. This was

also made possible by Shirley's very generous donation of her inheritance to PHR, and along with her

faith, love, and open heart for this special need. She has been able to bring to fruition her vision.

 

Her last request was to keep PHR as a Christian organization serving the needs of the clients.

Shirley's kind and generous Spirit touched many people. Her drive and compassion for her mission

destiny inspired many more.

 

Shirley leaves behind indelible memories, a beautiful smile full of joy and warm hugs for all.

Encouragement, gratitude, and quiet strength full of hope and love.

 

Shirley will be remembered for a life well lived, full of love and faith in fulfilling the Lord's destiny for her

time on this earth. The Lord took our beloved Shirley home on June 10th, 2022.

 

God bless Shirley always

"Well done my good and faithful servant" Matt 25:21

 

Wife of Carl Hanson. Mother of Michelle (Gayland) Niblock, Micheal (Anita) Hanson, Melissa (Tom) Wheatley, Marlene Hanson, Melodee (Tracy) Martin, Mary Margaret Hanson, Mark William (Mari) Hanson, Matthew Hanson, the late Jon Hanson and Philip Auteri.  Also survived by 16 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren.  Sister of William (Chris) McOmber, Frank (Kathy) McOmber and the late Alyce Hellmer.

A Celebration of Shirley's Life will be held Saturday August 20th 2022 at 11:00 AM at Praying Hands Ranch 

4825 E Daley Circle Parker Colorado 80134

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to Praying Hands Ranch.

When words can't fully express what we want to say, sometimes a small gift can. Visit our Memorial Store for personalized gifts, keepsake jewelry and to plant a memorial tree.

We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze site traffic.
<privacyLink>Privacy Policy</privacyLink>.

<firstParagraph>We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze how you use this website, store your preferences, and provide the content and advertisements that are relevant to you. These cookies will only be stored in your browser with your prior consent.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>You can choose to enable or disable some or all of these cookies but disabling some of them may affect your browsing experience.</secondParagraph>

<firstParagraph>We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.</firstParagraph><secondParagraph>The cookies that are categorized as 'Necessary' are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site.</secondParagraph>

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Analytics

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Functional

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Necessary

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Performance

Customize Cookie Preferences

Verification Successful!

New Message

The following files could not be uploaded

Ways you can honor {memorialName}'s memory:

Donation Link

Upcoming Event

Featured Mementos

Welcome Message

Select an item to highlight

Add a highlighted item

Customize which items you’d like to highlight on the memorial

Create Account

Become a Keeper

As a free {brandName} user, you will only be able to make 5 photos and videos public.

As a free {brandName} user, only the first five (5) Mementos are visible to page visitors. You can change which Mementos are public by dragging and dropping a photo or video to one of the first five positions. Upgrading to {brandName} Plus will make all 10 Mementos selected visible to the public.

All Mementos

This option is only available to Keeper Plus users.

To allow yourself and the rest of the community to view all images and videos, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of these mementos, upgrade your account to Keeper Plus.

This memento is not visible to visitors

Your community has posted {itemCount} more pictures and videos that honor {firstName}'s memory. To view them all, and to enable everyone to download their own copy of each, this account will need to upgrade to Keeper Plus.

View all images and videos with Keeper Plus

Our Obituary Assistant helps you craft a meaningful life story in minutes. Review and edit every detail, and unlock more features with Keeper Plus.

Obituary Assistant

Spend as much time as you need working on your Memorial page before it is visible to the public, and much more, when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Save Page as Draft

Create unlimited event pages and unlock a suite of powerful features to help you seamlessly coordinate event details, invites, and more when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Event

Create a full picture of your loved one’s community and add unlimited family and friends to Loved Ones when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Loved One

Create unlimited Memorials — and unlock unlimited images and videos, event pages, and advanced privacy settings — to help you keep memories alive when you upgrade to Keeper Plus.

Memorial Page

Add unlimited Stories to highlight the all the things that made your loved one unique, from milestones, images, albums, documents, locations, and much more.

Highlight Stories

Upgrading to Keeper Plus means you can add additional Keepers to help you gather Mementos and tributes, approve content, build out a family tree, and tell {firstName}' story on Keeper.

Invite Keepers with Keeper Plus

Upload and display unlimited photos and videos, use unlimited Story templates to highlight key moments, and allow friends and family to download their own copies when you upgrade to Keeper Plus. 

Better Mementos with Keeper Plus

To access memorial related configurations that control the display of the banner upgrade to Keeper Plus.

This configuration  is not available on your current plan

Create a meaningful link path to add a personal touch to {firstName}'s memorial.

Custom Memorial link

Gift Messages

SENDING AS A GIFT?

Cart

About 1-800 Flowers

"Flowers were beautiful and they arrived in time before the funeral. Thank you and will purchase more in the future.!"

Hearing Tears

"Beautiful flowers, I've always enjoyed sending them to my love ones for sympathy and they have always love them very much Thanks for making people feel good when receiving them."

Sympathy

"This was true to the photo and good to know family took arrangement after the service."

Beautiful arrangement.  Perfect size for service.

Some of the great things our customers say about us

We're here to make it a little easier, with thoughtful gifts for the services & home, along with expert advice on how to be there during a difficult time.

Flowers

Gift Baskets

Express Your Deepest Sympathy

About Us

Perfect Condolence Gift

No one is meant to grieve alone

Peace and love

Product is made, packaged, and sent with love

Keepsakes

How to add your gift message

Packaging Information

Shipping information

Add a Personalized Charm to the Ornament:

Other Keepsakes

Install KeeperQR onto any headstone, urn, or other memorial in minutes.

Install

Use your phone or tablet to scan the unique code — no other tools required!

Scan

All three of our elegant KeeperQR designs are printed using durable, weather-resistant aluminum designed for indoors and outdoor use on headstones and urns, memorial benches and trees, or other monuments to your loved one’s life

Built to Last

Get <discount>50% off</discount> Keeper Plus with your KeeperQR purchase

Keeper Basic

Learn About Our Plans

Connect the physical and digital worlds to share your loved one’s life story with friends and family, no matter where they are.

KeeperQR Memorial QR Code Plaques

Planting a memorial tree or bereavement tree is a unique, environmentally conscious way to pay tribute and honor the memory of your loved one. Keeper Memorials is supporting American Forests to plant whitebark pine trees as well as thornscrub trees in select regions of the US and Canada.

Memorial Trees

KeeperQR is designed to pair seamlessly with a Keeper digital memorial. Use our FREE intuitive tools to create biographies, maps, and timelines, share photos and videos, and more with customizable features built to commemorate your loved one’s life’s story.

Powered by Keeper

Lifetime without any hidden costs or subscription traps

One time payment

Keeper is SOC2 compliant, keeping your memories safe and secure.

Data protection guaranteed

We bring your QR Codes to any corner of the globe

Worldwide Shipping

Our durable and beautiful QR code plaques create seamless connection between your loved one’s physical memorial and their digital memorial, allowing visitors to their final resting place instant access to their life legacy.

Memorial.

Honor their memory, share their story

A KeeperQR is a weather-resistant plaque with a custom QR code that links directly to your loved one’s digital memorial. When placed on a headstone, urn, bench, or tree, it allows friends and family to scan and view their life story instantly

What is a KeeperQR?

They’re built to withstand outdoor elements and adhere to most surfaces.

Where can I place the KeeperQR?

How does it work?

Frequently asked questions

KeeperQR

E-Certificate Design

Plant Memorial Trees as a Living Tribute

BRAZIL

CANADA

FLORIDA

OREGON

Memorial Project Reach

Memorial trees start at {price} per tree, with discounts for multiple trees

Our Commitment

Gift Baskets & Food

Keeper Plus

QR Plaques

Keepers Featured Products

A Greener Way to Remember

Learn about our Partners:

Help Us Complete Your Order

Remembrance Store

Through your unique link, your client can sign up for Keeper and create a Memorial for a loved one. When the Memorial page is completed by the family, it will appear on your microsite and website. You will be the main Keeper Administrator of the Memorial, along with the family member that created the page.

Invite Your Clients to Create a Memorial

Invite Families

Your Email Notifications

Notifications

Email Unsubscribe Settings

Other Settings

With your active Keeper PLUS subscription, you get unlimited access to a suite of powerful features:

Allow visitors to download a local copy of all images and videos.

Download Media

Create a custom and meaningful URL, unique to your loved one, for each Memorial page.

Editable URL

Plan public or private events and invite your loved ones.

Event Pages

Add images and create profile pages to illustrate the history and genealogy of your loved one.

Family Tree

Invite unlimited administrators to help you manage every Memorial page you have.

Keeper Administrators

Visitors enjoy unrestricted access to all uploaded images and videos.

Unlimited Media

Create unlimited Memorial pages for your loved ones.

Memorial Pages

You will be able to upload Full HD videos instead of embedded links.

Video Uploading

Your Profile

Add a business user

Edit a business user

Are you sure you want to delete these users from these brands? You will need to manually add these users again.

If the user is a part of multiple brands, you will have to delete the user from each one individually

Delete Users from Brands?

Users Settings & Notifications

Users

Are you sure you want to delete these users? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Are you sure you want to delete this user? This action will revoke their privileges across all brands.

Delete Users from all Brands?

Delete User from Brand?

Are you sure you want to delete {totalDeletes} from this user?

Delete Roles from this User?

Are you sure you want to delete this user from this brand? You will need to manually add this user again.

Delete User from this Brand?

Requires users to confirm their email every time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned OFF, Guest users do not need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published.

When Email Tribute Validation is turned ON, Guest users will need to confirm their email address before their tribute is published. They will receive an email with a confirmation link they must click.

Requires users to confirm their email only the first time they would like to share a tribute on a Memorial page.

Email Tribute Validation

If Flagged Content is turned OFF, content that has been flagged will remain public until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

If Flagged Content is turned ON, content that has been flagged will be hidden until they have been Approved or Removed from the Requests Center.

Hide Flagged Content

Language

Email Notifications

Are you sure you want to delete the Memorial for {name}? This action will permanently remove the memorial from the system.

Delete Memorial?

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned OFF, Memorials will automatically be published.

When Memorial Request Moderation is turned ON, Memorials will only be published if and when you approve them. Memorials can be published or deleted in the Requests center.

Memorial Request Moderation

Moderation Settings

This will permanently delete your account. The business account, and business page will not be deleted. To deactivate your account, there must be another admin user assigned to your organization.

Are you sure you want to deactivate this account?

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, the tribute moderation settings on Memorial pages will be hidden and other Keepers cannot override the tribute moderation settings specified by your organization.

When Override Tribute Moderation is turned ON, other Keepers can view and change the tribute moderation settings of the Memorial pages they manage. (Each Memorial page will default to the organization’s tribute moderation setting upon creation.) 

Override Tribute Moderation

If the AI Content Moderation is OFF, text areas containing profane language will be published.  Tributes can however be flagged and removed at any time.

If the AI Content Moderation is ON, text areas containing profane language will not be published and the user will receive an error message.

AI Content Moderation

When Tribute Moderation is turned OFF, Tributes will automatically be published. Once published, users can flag inappropriate or spam content. You can instantly delete any Tributes published on a Memorial that you administer.

When Tribute Moderation is turned ON, Tributes will only be published if and when you approve them. Tributes can be approved or rejected in the Requests center.

Tribute Moderation

When Tribute Validation is turned OFF, Tributes will automatically be published. Once published, users can flag inappropriate or spam content. You can instantly delete any Tributes published on a Memorial that you administer.

When Tribute Validation is turned ON, Tributes will only be published if and when you approve them. Tributes can be approved or rejected in the Requests center.

Shirley Hanson Obituary | Altogether