Kathleen Nielsen Hansen

Kathleen (Kay) Nielsen Hansen was born July 26, 1940, in Bellevue, Pennsylvania, to Anton LaMont Nielsen and Carrie Evelyn Wilson Nielsen, their fourth child. Kay passed away August 29, 2026, at the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, at the age of 86.

When she was four months old, she and her family moved to Sharon, Pennsylvania. Here she happily spent nearly nine years of her early life, completing the first three grades of public school. In 1949, Kay moved with her family to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Kay attended Olympus High School in Holladay, Utah, and enjoyed playing the violin in the school orchestra and being in various clubs. She graduated in 1958 and then attended the University of Utah, where she received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1962.

Her first few years of teaching English were at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City. In 1967, Kay moved to Virginia, where she taught English at West Springfield High School in Fairfax County. Then in 1968, after deciding that she wanted to earn a master’s degree in English, she enrolled at the University of Oregon. While in Eugene, Oregon, she was able to spend time with her sister Barbara, her brother-in-law Ron, and their children. At that time, Ron was also working on a graduate degree at the University of Oregon. Kay had fun as she and Barbara’s family explored beautiful Oregon, enjoyed the sandy beaches, and picked wild blackberries. The children loved their Aunt Kay, and she became their second mom. Kay received her master’s degree in English in 1970 and returned to her teaching at West Springfield High School in Virginia.

Kay married Charles Reed Hansen on November 17, 1979, in the Salt Lake Temple. They lived in several different areas of the Salt Lake Valley before buying their home in Holladay with its majestic view of Mount Olympus, which Kay especially loved. She found that working in their yard was therapeutic for her. She enjoyed planting flowers, trimming hedges, weeding, and even mowing the lawn.

They also owned an apartment near Central Park in New York City, which they thoroughly enjoyed using as a second home, often for months at a time. Their exciting adventures in New York were special times for both Kay and Reed.

Kay loved listening to classical music, perhaps because of her training as a violinist earlier in her life. The New York Philharmonic and the Boston Pops were two of her favorite orchestras. She and Reed enjoyed concerts and also attended operas, musicals, and plays in New York City. She sang in the ward choir in many of the wards she has lived in and for several years sang in the Highlights of Handel’s Messiah performance in Holladay.

For many years after her marriage, Kay taught English full time at Cottonwood and Taylorsville High Schools (Granite School District) in the Salt Lake area. After her retirement, she substituted in the classroom for many additional years. She blessed the lives of hundreds of students as she not only taught them ways to improve their writing and gave them an introduction to and interest in mythology, but most importantly gave them an appreciation of literature, encouraging them to love poetry as she did. Kay’s students called her “the poet lady” because she so often recited poetry in her classrooms.

She was a gifted poet. For the last thirty-five years of her life, she wrote delightful poems for the members of her family and her friends to celebrate birthdays, weddings, and other special occasions. Then, starting in 2009, she began also sending a clever poem to her family and friends each January. This New Year’s greeting contained her best wishes and her resolutions for the year ahead.

Kay was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had a strong testimony of Christ and His gospel. She loved attending the temple. Family and friends meant a lot to Kay. She went to the events which her nieces and nephews participated in, such as dance, sports, and musical events. She was always interested in the talents they were developing. Kay was a devoted wife, daughter, sister, and aunt. She loved spending time with her family. Kay kept in contact with family and friends through letters/emails, phone calls/messages, and visits. She was a bright light in the lives of everyone she met.

Kay was an adventurous traveler. In May 1964, she flew to Boston and spent two months visiting her sister and brother-in-law, enjoying the sites in the Concord area which are so well known in the study of American literature. Walden Pond, Thoreau’s cabin, Louisa May Alcott’s home, and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery were some she was excited to visit. She was able to spend time in New York City on her way back to Utah. Kay also spent time touring Europe while her brother was stationed in Germany, appreciating the culture of the countries she visited. In addition, Kay spent a happy summer in Hawaii with her friend, Margo.

Kay and Reed’s favorite national park was Yellowstone, where they camped, visited the geysers, and went on long hikes to spot wildlife and especially grizzly bears through their scope. A favorite treat was a night or two at the Old Faithful Inn after a few days of camping. Another adventure for Kay and Reed was spending time together in Newport Beach, California, where they took sailing lessons.

Kay’s appreciation for turtles, especially sea turtles, is legendary in her family and among her friends. Her collection of ceramic, metal, cloth, and other kinds of turtles is impressive. Many of these were given to her over the years by family members and friends. After studying the behavior of sea turtles at aquariums over the years, she composed a poem, “The Turtle,” as advice about how we might best handle the challenges of life.

Kay is survived by her husband, Reed, her two sisters, Ellen Nielsen Cannon and Barbara Nielsen Schill (Ron), and her brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Brad and Leisa Hansen. She is also survived by 25 nieces and nephews, 7 step-nieces and step-nephews, and a multitude of grandnieces and grandnephews.

Kay was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Peter Nielsen and her sister-in-law Relda Skinner Nielsen, her brother Douglas Nielsen and her sister-in-law Karen Cummings Nielsen, her brothers-in-law Harold E. Aldous, Henry H. Bartholomew, and Rowland M. Cannon, her niece Amie Nielsen, and her niece Deborah Schill Frantz.

Our family would like to thank the many doctors and nurses who cared for Kay in such a kind way while she was in the hospital during her last illness. We also want to thank the caregivers and staff at Aspen Ridge Transitional Rehab who were so attentive to her needs.

Funeral Services will be held at noon on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at the Holladay 1st Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2065 East 4675 South, Salt Lake City, Utah. There will be a gathering for family and friends from 6 to 8 pm at the Holladay 1st Ward on Friday, the 25th, and one on Saturday from 10 to 11:30 am just prior to the funeral. Interment will be at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.

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