"OUR SANDWICH WOMEN"
(2020 Summer Exhibit)
MARION HOWE HANSEN
1919-2002
Marion Howe Hansen began life in 1919, the daughter of Rev. Chester and Annie C. Howe. The youngest of four siblings, Marion became a fixture in her father’s church and exhibited musical inclinations at an early age. At sixteen her father gifted her a grand piano, a huge financial burden for a church pastor during the Great Depression. Her hard work led her to acceptance at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied classical piano. In 1939 she married Albert Hansen Jr., an electrical engineer at GE and youth worker in her father’s church in Lynn, MA.
Her husband’s rapid rise at GE led her and her growing family to move many times over the next 30 years, however, in the early 1920s Marion’s father had joined several other Harvard educated theologians visiting the town of Sandwich, NH. Rev. Chester Howe found solitude and inspiration there and purchased sixty acres on Diamond Ledge. Years later, Albert and Marion purchased their own vacation home at the entrance to what had become Howe Hill, the Red House (now owned by the Lloyd family) and its spectacular view of Squam Lake. During a transfer to Lynchburg, VA, Marion and Al sold the Red House, but retained a piece of land on Dinsmore Pond, where they built a house at the edge of the water.
Marion established deep roots in Sandwich during extended summer vacations with her family. She was a voracious reader and letter writer. There are many stories of her travels up and down Diamond ledge, with children stuffed into her Model A Ford. The town beach or the library were the usual destinations, and, of course, Sunday services at the Baptist Meetinghouse where her father often preached as a guest until his death in 1952. In her teens, she established a life-long friendship with another summer resident, Elizabeth Kennedy, and their early morning swims at the town beach became a routine that inspired many and continued all of their lives.
When Marion and Al retired to Sandwich, they purchased the “Glass House” on Diamond Ledge. Eventually, they sold that house and moved into their final home in Sandwich even higher up onto the quartz encrusted ledge with views in all directions.
Marion stayed active all her life. She gave piano lessons for many years. When her five children were grown, she got her real estate license in Pennsylvania and then New Hampshire, eventually working with one of her oldest friends, Denley Emerson, then in her own business, Diamond Ledge Properties. During retirement she converted her love of writing into a regular weekly column, reporting the Sandwich news for local newspapers. For many years she was the Sandwich Tax Collector. Perhaps she will be best remembered as the organist and choir director for the Federated Church of Sandwich. Marion is now memorialized in the Hansen family burial plot just inside the iron gate, next to the Baptist Meetinghouse she dearly loved.
Carl Howe Hansen
May, 2020
Her husband’s rapid rise at GE led her and her growing family to move many times over the next 30 years, however, in the early 1920s Marion’s father had joined several other Harvard educated theologians visiting the town of Sandwich, NH. Rev. Chester Howe found solitude and inspiration there and purchased sixty acres on Diamond Ledge. Years later, Albert and Marion purchased their own vacation home at the entrance to what had become Howe Hill, the Red House (now owned by the Lloyd family) and its spectacular view of Squam Lake. During a transfer to Lynchburg, VA, Marion and Al sold the Red House, but retained a piece of land on Dinsmore Pond, where they built a house at the edge of the water.
Marion established deep roots in Sandwich during extended summer vacations with her family. She was a voracious reader and letter writer. There are many stories of her travels up and down Diamond ledge, with children stuffed into her Model A Ford. The town beach or the library were the usual destinations, and, of course, Sunday services at the Baptist Meetinghouse where her father often preached as a guest until his death in 1952. In her teens, she established a life-long friendship with another summer resident, Elizabeth Kennedy, and their early morning swims at the town beach became a routine that inspired many and continued all of their lives.
When Marion and Al retired to Sandwich, they purchased the “Glass House” on Diamond Ledge. Eventually, they sold that house and moved into their final home in Sandwich even higher up onto the quartz encrusted ledge with views in all directions.
Marion stayed active all her life. She gave piano lessons for many years. When her five children were grown, she got her real estate license in Pennsylvania and then New Hampshire, eventually working with one of her oldest friends, Denley Emerson, then in her own business, Diamond Ledge Properties. During retirement she converted her love of writing into a regular weekly column, reporting the Sandwich news for local newspapers. For many years she was the Sandwich Tax Collector. Perhaps she will be best remembered as the organist and choir director for the Federated Church of Sandwich. Marion is now memorialized in the Hansen family burial plot just inside the iron gate, next to the Baptist Meetinghouse she dearly loved.
Carl Howe Hansen
May, 2020
