Richard "Dick" Hanson (2019)

COTTON, HANSON, LANNERS, PETERSEN, TAYLOR

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 8/28/2024 at 14:04:24

Des Moines Register
Des Moines, Iowa
Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Winterset - Richard (Dick) Hanson, 94, passed away in Winterset, Iowa on October 10, 2019. Dick was born September 15, 1925 in Bode, Iowa to Lawrence and Pearl Watnem Hanson and attended public school near his parent's farm in Whittemore, Iowa. He attended and graduated from Iowa State University in1948 with a degree in Agricultural Journalism and was a member of Delta Upsilon Fraternity.

While at Iowa State he met Mary Lou Taylor, which turned into 70 years of marriage.

Dick began (1949) and finished (1984) his journalism career working at Meredith Corporation as an executive editor, editor, and agricultural editorial director of Successful Farming Magazine. At the age of 32, Dick became the youngest national farm magazine editor in the U.S. He was afforded many unique opportunities while working at Meredith such as; traveling to Russia, then known as the Soviet Union, during the Khrushchev years, spending a day with President Lyndon Baines Johnson down at his ranch in Texas just months after President Johnson took office, and hosting tours with Mary Lou sponsored by Successful Farming Magazine to such areas as Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, Scandinavia, and Hawaii. He was a member of the Agricultural Editors Association (past president), Association of Agricultural College Editors, National Wildlife Federation, Wilderness Society, and the Outdoor Writers Association. Not bad for a guy who had a professor at Iowa State tell him that college might not be for everyone!

Dick loved the outdoors and he and Lou enjoyed canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Canada, tent camping vacations with their children across the United States, deer hunting in Wyoming, and building an A-frame cabin on Johnson Lake near Ely, Minnesota which the family continues to enjoy.

In 1973 they bought 57 acres near Winterset, Iowa, had a new house designed and built, and began life in their own little paradise. One of his accomplishments he was most proud of was the 30-acre tall grass prairie, a "labor-of-love" product. He and Lou began converting a creek bottom farm field to a warm season tall-grass prairie environment in the mid 1980's. The Hanson's donated their prairie (Hanson Prairie Preserve) to the Madison County Foundation for Environmental Education (MCFEE).

Dick was preceded in death by his parents, sister, Wanda Hanson, infant son, Drew, and wife Mary Lou.

Dick is survived by his children: Dirk (Kathryn) Hanson of Ely, Minnesota, Kim (Harold) Petersen of Cumming, Iowa, and Chip (Valerie) Hanson of Ely, Minnesota, grandsons Peter and Drew both in Seattle, sister in law, Carole Lea (Taylor) (John) Cotton of Spencer, Iowa, niece Deb (Cotton) Lanners of Minnetonka, Minnesota, and nephews Dave Cotton of Spokane, Washington and Daniel Cotton of Overland Park, Kansas.

Per Dick's request his body was cremated and no funeral services will be held. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to EveryStep Hospice, everystep.org or the Madison County Foundation for Environmental Education,

Madison Obituaries maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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