Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Washington

From the

Official News Magazine of the Diocese of Spokane

(From the Sept. 29, 2005 edition of the Inland Register)

Donna Hanson (right), long-time director of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Spokane, died Sept. 23. “She had an undying compassion for people. She lived the Gospel every single day,” said Mary Cole, Donna Hanson’s administrative assistant since 2001. (IR file photo)

Donna Hanson, Bishop’s Secretary for Social Ministries and Diocesan Director of Catholic Charities, died Friday, Sept. 23, after a long struggle with cancer.

The vigil was Tuesday evening, Sept. 27; the funeral Mass, celebrated by Bishop William Skylstad, was Wednesday, Sept. 28. Both took place at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Spokane.

She had worked for Catholic Charities since 1964 and succeeded Father Frank Bach as Director in 1978.

Those who worked with Donna Hanson for many years were unanimous in their praise for her and in their sadness at her death.

“Donna was a tremendous leader,” Bishop William Skylstad said, “not only here in our own diocese, but around the country, as well. She was well known nationally and internationally, besides the wonderful work that she did with Catholic Charities, most of those years being the Director of Catholic Charities.

“If we look at the growth of Catholic Charities, all the way from housing to farm worker housing, to institutions like the House of Charity and St. Margaret Shelter, to the more recent building of the new St. Anne Children and Family Center, it’s just a remarkable, remarkable legacy,” said the bishop.

“Some years ago, Donna was also the chair of the Advisory Council for the U.S. Bishops, so she became very connected to that level of the church,” he said. “In addition to that, she was a member of the board for Catholic Relief Services, and she was very involved with Caritas International.”

“Donna was a woman of great wisdom and strong intellect, and she always liked to wordsmith documents,” said Bishop Skylstad. “I would share something with her, and I would think it was a pretty good document, but when I gave it to Donna it came back more than marked up in red. She had a wonderful way, and she was a very articulate lady who wrote well, so I would always chuckle to myself about that. And she would always make an excuse, ‘Now, this may not be what you want,’ but I would always laugh to myself about that. She would have a different way of putting things and refining them.

“We are so grateful for Donna, and her husband, Bob, for her wonderful service to the church. It’s a painful, sad moment, but she approached death as she did life, with a deep sense of faith and trust and openness about herself. It really was a journey of faith for her. We have been blessed and graced, and we rejoice in a person who is now praying with and for us, and for that we’re grateful.”

As Director of Catholic Charities in 1964, Msgr. Frank Bach hired Donna Hanson to work for the Diocese of Spokane. “I interviewed her in the lobby of a hotel in St. Louis,” Msgr. Bach recalls. “She needed a job, and I needed someone with a master’s degree in social work.” The 1964 World Series was going on, and the Yankees were in town for a game. “I was distracted by seeing Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra come through the lobby, so the interview didn’t go on for as long as it might have,” he says with a laugh.

For Msgr. Bach, high points in Donna Hanson’s career include being the first woman to be on the national Catholic Charities board, and eventually she became the first woman president of the board. She also became the first woman Director of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Spokane.

“The most recent highlight of her career was her decison to rebuild, relocate and organize payment for the three largest institutions of Catholic Charities: St. Anne Children and Family Center, St. Margaret Shelter, and the House of Charity,” said Msgr. Bach. “She was extremely successful in getting Catholic Charities agencies to work, and work at very little cost.”

Msgr. Bach recalls, too, Hanson’s deep spirituality. “She was a daily Communicant for at least 25 years,” he said. “She was a strong feminist, but she was able to deliver the message in a way that didn’t alienate the people she was talking to. She’s a person who has been ale to work within the institution and not leave it, as some others have.”

Finally, Msgr. Bach says with a smile, “Donna loved a party. She certainly has a lot of friends among the hierarchy.”

Msgr. John Steiner is pastor of St. Mary Parish in Spokane Valley and Co-Vicar General for the diocese. He worked with Donna Hanson since 1977.

“Donna’s life was wrapped around three things,” Msgr. Steiner says: “her family, the institutions of Catholic Charities – the organized delivery of care and service; she knew no need that she didn’t want to meet – and her fascination with the bigger church, which led her to wonderful places, including Romania. She attended many meetings in Rome, often for Caritas International. She wanted to try to remind the folks she was dealing with in the bigger church of the real issues.”

Msgr. Steiner observes that Donna Hanson “was an idealist of the first order, and there was no good idea that passed her desk that she didn’t want to do. She was so focused on doing good. Look at the long list of the things that she has done. She wanted to control the world to do good, at great cost to herself, to make the world be a better place.”

At the same time, Msgr. Steiner recalls, Donna Hanson “was happiest when she found out she was going to be a grandma.”

Joanne Nilles retired from Catholic Charities in 2001 after serving as secretary for Donna Hanson and other administrators.

“For me,” Nilles recalls, “working with Donna I always felt like I had to do my best. She was the best boss you could have, from my standpoint. It was never dull. She always expected that I could do whatever she needed to have done, so I would just go ahead and do it.

“I saw her faith in action in everything she did,” Nilles said. “It was part of her whole being, her whole life. She is going to be very sorely missed throughout the world in the various activities she’s been involved with over the years, especially in the United States, of course. She really, really cared about people, and she was so involved with women’s and children’s issues for the whole time I knew her.”

Mary Ann Heskett began working with Donna Hanson in 1978, as Director of Development for Catholic Charities. Today she is Coordinator for Planned Giving and Director for the new Catholic Charities Foundation.

“Donna had so many dimensions,” Heskett said. “Professionally, she was totally competent and extremely brilliant – the smartest person I’ve ever known. Friendship-wise, she had a heart that encompassed the whole world. I’ve never had a better friend. I could always count on her for anything, anytime.

“When I think back on 30 years, probably my biggest ‘ah-ha’ experience was when I first started working with Donna, and she said, ‘I always wanted to make a difference.’ I said that I had never gotten that far in my life, but I sure wanted to help her make a difference. So that has been our working relationship over the years. The three loves of Donna’s life were God, Catholic Charities, and her family.”

Heskett recalls an invitation to the Hanson home to share a meal. “After dinner, I opened Donna’s dish washer and started to load dishes into it, and Donna said, ‘Oh, I don’t use that.’ I thought maybe it was broken, but no. She had a dish washer, and she never used it, and she had a clothes drier, and she never used it. When we had the first energy crisis, in the ’70s, she decided that she couldn’t give up her Volkswagen – they needed two cars – but she could get along without her dishwasher and her clothes drier. You could go over to their house and find sheets and towels drying outside.”

Mary Cole began working as Hanson’s assistant and office manager in 2001. “The very first memory I have of Donna,” said Cole, “is her taking me around to the old St. Anne Children’s Home. I was in the car with her. When we stopped there, everybody came out to greet her. She was so amazing, and I was so impressed with all the things that she had done.

“Before I got this job, she took me out to lunch to the Cannon Street Grill, and she was so appreciative of my presence and of the fact that I would want to work for Catholic Charities. During the interview, Donna asked my predecessor, Joanne Nilles, if she had forgotten anything, and Joanne said, ‘No, other than that you have some idiosyncrasies that I’ve had to learn over 40 years.’ So after that Donna would be introducing me to someone, and she would laugh and say, ‘She knows all my idiosyncrasies, and I’m a little nervous about that!’”

Cole remembers that whenever she entered Donna’s office to tell her that someone wanted to see her, “whether it was a Catholic Charities Board member or a person off the street, she was so accommodating. She could be as busy as anything, and a street person would come in, and she would come out and talk to that person.

“What I remember most about Donna is her commitment to people,” said. Cole. “She had an undying compassion for people, whether it be the person at the House of Charity or the person from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She had seen it all, and she would treat everyone the same. She lived the Gospel every single day.”

Gene DiRe is Director of Counseling Service for Catholic Charities and had worked with Donna Hanson since 1987. “What strikes me about Donna,” DiRe said, “is her visionary leadership.

“She was certainly a very strong leader and a very clear leader with regard to her sense of where the agency needs to go,” he said. “What really stands out for me is the strength of her vision. She always spoke of her faith just about any time we met with her, and her love for the church, and the agency’s connection to and service to the church as well as to the general society.

She really saw Catholic Charities as connected very intimately to the parishes,” said DiRe. “In our particular case, in the mental health department, that shows up in our presence in the parishes rather than in a central location. Her loss will certainly be felt by the community at large, not just the agency.”

Donna Hanson is survived by her husband of 40 years, Robert; two sons; and three grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers are suggested, given to the Catholic Charities Foundation for the support of St. Anne Children and Family Center.