Gloria C. Hahn

Gloria Lynn Claflin Hahn, born June 8, 1939, in La Crosse, Wisconsin joined her Lord on October 10, 2025.

Gloria was the firstborn of five children to Marcella and Dale Claflin. Dale’s classified work for the U.S. government required the family to move frequently—from Wisconsin to Indiana, then Louisville, Kentucky, followed by Los Alamos and Albuquerque, New Mexico—before settling in Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1955 when she was 16. Gloria attended Idaho Falls High School, where she was an active member of the drill team, the Tigerettes.  After graduating in 1957, she enrolled in the radiology program at Seattle University. Before completing her first semester, her father was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. Gloria immediately returned home to help her mother and siblings, and her father passed away in early 1958. She then enrolled in the radiology program at Sacred Heart Hospital in Idaho Falls, graduating in the spring of 1960. During this time, Gloria met her soulmate, Jim Hahn, at a church  sponsored event in Idaho Falls. Their love quickly grew, and they were married on July 2, 1960, at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, where they were parishioners for over 50 years. Gloria and Jim purchased acreage in New Sweden, west of Idaho Falls, establishing the Hahn Family Farm, later known as Pine Patch Farm. It was quite a change for a stylish city girl with impeccable hair and makeup—now the wife of an Idaho potato farmer. Together they raised five children over the next eleven years. Farm life brought pleasure, challenges and heartache. The tragic loss of their two-year-old daughter to a drowning accident tested the family deeply, yet Gloria’s strength and resilience carried them forward.

Her steadfastness became a defining trait. She was the strong, binding force of her family. Once her youngest child was old enough, Gloria returned to work as an X-ray technologist in 1974, joining a local orthopedic group where she remained for over 30 years, retiring in 2005.

Gloria was always on the go. She was an avid walker and skied both downhill and cross-country, helped her children with 4-H projects, and took great joy in planting and harvesting the family’s large garden. She loved to dance! Jim and Gloria moved as gracefully at their 50th anniversary celebration as they had on their wedding day. Their home was often filled with music, laughter, and people, as Gloria delighted in hosting birthdays, reunions, and anniversaries. Her children carry on her gift for throwing a good party. Gloria loved camping and trail riding with her dear friends, affectionately known as the "Bum Busters.” She maintained close friendships around the country, often visiting loved ones in Wisconsin, Iowa, North Carolina, Hawaii, Arizona, California, and Washington. She also traveled abroad to Italy, Ireland, and Scotland, where she and her siblings visited their ancestral Claflin Castle, tracing their roots to the Maclachlan clan, one of Scotland’s oldest families.

She loved to cook, bake, and preserve the bounty from her garden. Her children still remember the taste of warm homemade bread spread with tart raspberry jam. Gloria entered her breads, jams, and canned fruits and vegetables at the Eastern Idaho State Fair, winning hundreds of ribbons—most of them blue—and earning the Grand Master Baking Award in 1978. Gloria raised several litters of golden retrievers, some that became beloved members of the family. Her passion of nature led her to become a Master Naturalist. Nearly every Mother’s Day, Gloria and Jim traveled to Yellowstone National Park to see the newborn wildlife—a tradition she treasured.

Gloria and Jim retired from farming in 2010 and moved to Eagle, Idaho in 2014 to be near their two daughters in Boise. They built a beautiful home with a serene backyard overlooking a pond filled with ducks, swans, and geese. Gloria was diagnosed with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, a heartbreaking illness shared by her mother and sisters. She lived at home until 2023, when she moved to a memory-care facility. Jim transitioned in 2024 to assisted living at her facility and remained faithfully by her side until she was called home. Gloria was a wonderful woman, a devoted mother, lifelong Catholic, and a loving wife to the man she cherished for 65 years.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Marcella and Dale Claflin; daughter, Camille Hahn; and sisters, Heather Long and Cindy Brandjes. She is survived by her husband, Jim Hahn; brother, Dale Claflin; and four children: Anette McClain; David (Denean) Hahn; Jill (Kyle) Palmer; and Kathleen (Greg) Hanson. She was the proud Gran of: Nick, Morgan, Kohl, Amelia, Abby, Drew, Carter, Amanda, and Grace. And she was a great Gran to: Matthew, Aubree, Leo, and Archie.

Jim and his family would like to express their sincere gratitude to all of the caregivers and staff at Paramount Parks for the amazing care they gave to Gloria, with a special thank you to Jenny and Carrie with Geiss Hospice for making her last days so peaceful.

A Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, November 14, 2025, at Holy Rosary Catholic Church at 11:00 a.m. Interment will follow immediately at the New Sweden Cemetery. Please join the family for a gathering celebrating Gloria at the Westbank Convention Center from 2-4pm.

In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates donations to the Alzheimer’s Association in Gloria’s memory.