Conrad Alfred Hanson

He was born on January 8, 1922 in Ogden, Utah. His father was from Texas, the son of Swedish immigrants, and his mother was from Nebraska. His family moved to California when he was a teenager, and he graduated from Southgate High School in 1940. He was a member of the track and football teams, vice president of the cooperative student government, and president of The Knights, a men’s service organization.

He joined the US Army during World War II and served in the Pacific Theatre, mostly in the Philippines in the 40th and 6th Infantry Divisions. He was a heavy mortar crewman and later a radio operator and radio chief. He participated in the Battle of Mindanao in the South Philippines as part of the campaign to liberate the country. After WWII ended, he was deployed to South Korea during the US occupation and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant.

After the war, he became the first person in his family to attend college. He holds a BA degree in Philosophy, Sociology, and Religion from Whittier College, and an MA degree in Social Science and English from California State University at Long Beach. He also pursued graduate studies at Columbia University in the School of International Affairs.

Conrad was very active in the Southgate Methodist Church in the 1940s and served in many leadership capacities. Later he attended the North Long Beach Methodist Church. It was here that he met his future wife, Lois Keller Teter. They were married in 1954.

Conrad and Lois welcomed their first child, Connie, in 1957. Their second daughter, Cathy, was born in 1960, and shortly thereafter, the family moved from Long Beach to Anaheim, CA. Conrad was a devoted father and actively participated in his daughters’ care and nurturing from nighttime feedings when they were newborns to late-night listening and counseling sessions when they were teenagers, and all through their lives.

Over the course of his professional career, Conrad worked in many fields, including sales (vacuum cleaners, baby furniture, and life insurance to name a few), aerospace, social services, education, career development, technical writing, and multi-level marketing. He took some unusual jobs over the years, but no matter how humble the position or how long the commute, he always gave his all, and strove to be the best employee he could be. In everything that he tried, he looked for ways in which he could serve others and improve their lives in some way.

In 1965, the family joined Garden Grove Community Church (later called the Crystal Cathedral) where they were very involved and made many friends. In 1968, Conrad volunteered to be a telephone counselor at the church’s new crisis hotline, the New Hope Telephone Counseling Center. This was to be a turning point in his life. He served in various volunteer and leadership capacities at New Hope, which involved many of the things he loved and at which he excelled – teaching, counseling, writing, and helping others. In 1976 he was hired to be the Executive Director of New Hope, a position he held for nine years. He trained more than 1,000 lay counselors during that time and directed a staff of 350 volunteers who answered over 60,000 calls per year.

After retiring from New Hope, he began working at The Miracle Distribution Center where he was Director of Education and Counseling. In addition to teaching classes and leading workshops locally and in other states, he provided spiritual counseling both in person and by phone, mail, and email. In later years, Conrad worked part time and had the role of maintaining and updating the contact information for hundreds of study groups both within the US and internationally. He felt blessed to have met so many wonderful people from all over the world through this work, and even though he retired eight years ago, the impact that he made on the lives of others continues to be felt. The Center regularly hears from those who have been touched and helped by his empathetic heart and compassionate words.

Conrad had some health challenges in his later years including a stroke and the onset of dementia, but he stayed active as long as he could by walking every day, reading, maintaining his extensive correspondence with friends and family, and contributing to a vast array of charitable organizations he believed in and supported. He was greatly assisted by exceptional caregivers who came every day to care for him, and by his daughter, Connie, with whom he had been living for several years. He also loved to watch several news programs, anything on the PBS stations, and educational DVDs on every topic imaginable. He loved to go on car rides, even if it was just to a doctor’s appointment or to do errands, but scenic drives were his favorite.

For the last six years of his life he lived in two different board and care homes. Even with his advancing dementia, (which at times altered his personality and mental capability), the warmth, sensitivity, polite manner, and gratitude that were so much a part of him continued to shine through and endear him to others. Connie was able to visit him every day and also helped to care for him until the very end.

He will be greatly missed by his daughters, Connie Sawyer of Tustin, CA, and Cathy Harrison of Susanville, CA; his six grandchildren, Sarah, Peter, David, Stephen, Annie, and Elizabeth; his great-grandson, Jacob; and his many, many friends all over the world.

A memorial service for Conrad will be held Saturday, November 10, 2018 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM in the Waverley Chapel at Fairhaven Memorial Park Mortuary, 1702 Fairhaven Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705. A reception in the Waverley Gallery will occur Saturday, November 10, 2018 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.fairhavenmemorial.com for the Hanson family. To share a memory please click on the "ADD a MEMORY" link to the left of Conrad's photo at the bottom of this page.