Colleen Mary Hanson

Fort Collins resident Colleen Mary (Garrity) Hanson, 83, loving wife, mother of five and grandmother of eight, passed away Sunday, November 17, 2019, from cancer peacefully at McKee Medical Center, Loveland, Colorado.

A celebration of life will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 8, at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, 2000 South Lemay Avenue, Fort Collins, with Pastor Leta Behrens officiating and a reception will take place following the service in the OSLC Fellowship Hall. Cremation has taken place with ashes being interred at the Our Saviour's Lutheran Church columbarium.

Colleen was born April 14, 1936, in Page, North Dakota, to Clarence and Alice (Krabbenhoft) Garrity. She went to Interstate Business School in Fargo, North Dakota. She met Duane Harold Hanson, a student at North Dakota State University, at a church event and they were married on October 20, 1956.

Colleen and Duane moved to Dickinson, North Dakota, and raised their five children: Rochelle, Douglas, Kenton, Laurie, and Mark. Colleen's dedication as a mother and a homemaker will forever be remembered as one of her most important achievements. When her children were older, Colleen worked at Dickinson High School in the media center and in the front office. They were also members of St. John's Lutheran Church while living in Dickinson.

In 1985, Duane and Colleen moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. She worked at Sartor Hamonn Jewelers before retiring. Colleen was a member of PEO, Ladies Circle at OSLC, the columbarium committee at OSLC, the neighborhood bunco group, the birthday lunch bunch, and she attended the Midtown Arts Center regularly. She was a lover of tea cups, roses, angels, travel, lunches with friends, shopping at Christopher and Banks, and trips to Estes Park. Most of all, she loved her family and getting together for family birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and holidays.

If asked to describe Colleen, friends would say she was kind, compassionate, a hard worker, classy, "always put together," a lovely person, and "my best friend." Basically, all her family and friends thought the world of Colleen. She was a loving wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and friend and she will be sorely missed.

Colleen is survived by her husband of 63 years, Duane, and her children Douglas (Donna), Kenton (Kara), Laurie (Wayne) Welken, Mark (Kendra), and son-in-law Stephen Bratton. Grandchildren include Tyler, Alison, Jordan, Dillon, Kylan, Matthew, Andrew, and Cameron.

Colleen is preceded in death by her parents and her daughter, Rochelle Bratton.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be given in Colleen's name to Our Saviour's Lutheran Church and its Outreach Ministry program.