Dorothy Marie Hansen

She was born Dorothy Caroline Marie Stiles in January 1920 to Everett and Maybelle Stiles in Warroad, Minnesota – the fourth of six children. Warroad was on the shore of Lake of The Woods and on what was the site of the largest Chippewa Indian village in the region. She was known by some as “Dottie” or “Dot”.

At age 10, she moved with her family to Blaine and a few years later to Bellingham, Washington. She attended Fairhaven High School in Bellingham where she was a song leader and graduated from Bellingham High School in 1937. At the age of 16 she began working as a live-in domestic, cooking, cleaning and caring for the children of a Bellingham family. She also worked at the College Inn in Bellingham where she met her late husband Jack Hansen who was a regular customer. Sparks flew from the moment they met and they were wed in 1938 by eloping.

After a brief stay in Bellingham they moved to Seattle where Jack started a photography studio and she worked at the coffee counter in Manning’s Restaurant, a former Seattle landmark at what is now Westlake Center. Soon, she left this and worked at home doing masterful oil coloring of portraits for Jack’s photography clients. She also helped in his studio with posing subjects, most notably children, in which they specialized. Together they worked as a team photographing on location many weddings and events in and around Seattle.

Since those early years together she and Jack shared a deep commitment to their belief in God as members of Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church. Dorothy was active in the Ladies’ Circle and various Guilds and taught Sunday School and Vacation Bible School for may years. Her faith was unwavering and as time went on became even more personal for her. Daily devotions and prayer were an integral part of her life until the end.

She raised three children in an unusually happy home. Her life’s career was homemaker extraordinaire. Always finding ways to do so many things more efficiently, economically and just all around better was her guiding principle. Things in her home were never left undone. She achieved this with her persistence and energy while maintaining a calm and loving atmosphere for her family and friends. For most of her adult life, Dorothy baked bread every week. She made clothes for her family. She was rarely if ever ill and walked regularly until her last days. In later years many were amazed at her endurance as she walked miles to and from the library, grocery store and through her neighborhood. Her complexion was beautiful until her last hour – something she credited to “Oil of Delay”.

In 1975 she and Jack built a home on the Lake Cushman Golf Course in the Hood Canal area. They enjoyed over 20 years of bliss in a setting they loved and shared with her sister Mabel and her husband Slim, who were neighbors just across the green. Her grand children have many fond memories of stays there and hiking, swimming, fishing, foraging for mushroom and enjoying grandma’s great cooking, baking and hospitality. She planted and nurtured vegetable, fruit and flower gardens with Jack, made may friends there whom they shared their bounty with.

Dorothy is known for always being helpful, positive and caring and eagerly offering but never wanting recognition or “fussing over” -- as her friend Glenna said, “…she knocked herself out to always be of help to someone else, but it was hard to do anything for her. She seemed to feel she needed to give rather than take.” She loved giving of her time and talents and many will miss her annual barrage of the widest variety of Christmas cookies, fruitcake and the wonderful Julekake (Christmas bread), she made until this past year.

She took pride in her health and appearance while continually seeking ways to serve others whether it was giving a haircut, a permanent wave, help with a school lesson or visiting those in need of company and reassurance. Living independently since her husband’s death in 1999 she was a magnet for friends and a force for inclusion in the community where she lived. Her last days were in the company of a loving roommate and fellow crossword puzzler, Mabel Heise, and being visited and tended by family and close friends.

Dorothy is survived by sister Mabel Randall of Shelton, WA and brother Howard Stiles of Edmonds, WA and children John, Carolyn and Peter, six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband Jack, sister Helen Armstead, brothers Russell and Donald Stiles.

In memory, the family requests that you do something unusually helpful for someone else without seeking any reward. Dorothy’s spirit lives on in us all.