Karen Kay Anderson Hansen

Karen Kay Anderson Hansen, 91, passed away on 15 April 2026 in Pleasant Grove, UT. Born 17 October 1934 in Cleveland, Utah, she was the fourth child of Stanley Rodin Anderson and Lois Marjorie Myrup. Karen married Forest Andresen Hansen 29 December 1961 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They divorced in 1983. As a child, Karen enjoyed spending early summer mornings wandering the fields around her home with her collie, Laddie. She wrote: “Summer days seemed to go rather slowly until the morning chores were over. Then they sped along more rapidly as though relieved of some burden.” She enjoyed playing hit-ball and cops and robbers with friends, or making detailed miniature animals and farms out of milkweed pods. When someone’s mother wanted asparagus for dinner, the children would go and gather it along the ditch banks When Karen started Junior High, she enjoyed the “amazing new experience” of purchasing paper back books for only a quarter. Laddie, a book about a collie, was her favorite. Her family raised cocker spaniels, and there were plenty of pets around, but Karen began to wish for a collie of her own. She recorded: “My mother explained that it would be too expensive to buy one, so I began to pray for one, and to wish for one – stars, four leaf clover, wish bones… anything and everything a child could wish on. I didn’t give up. When I was in the eighth grade, the day before Thanksgiving, I was going to go with my dad to get our Thanksgiving turkey, but when I got home my mother said, ‘Karen, a little while ago there was a big collie that came down the street… Do you want to go and see if he’s still there?’ Of course! AND he was still there – a real collie like Lassie, but all covered with burrs of every kind… This gentle sweet dog let me remove all the burrs… He was beautiful and wonderful!... We had no idea how he got to Riverton…but found out that he’d been…out in the fields with the harvesters, sharing their lunches… I named him Laddie and he never left. He loved me better than anyone, and I was so proud of him.” Karen’s first job was as a clerk-typist for Beneficial Life Insurance Co. At BYU she majored in Art and decided upon a teaching career. After graduation, she taught Art for five years at Box Elder High School in Brigham City, UT where her students frequently won awards for their art. Karen was introduced to Forest Hansen by their “good friend, MaRee Richards and her cupid-playing mother.” They were engaged in October of 1961 and married two months later. They made their home in Salt Lake City, UT. When their children got to be school-age, Karen did occasional substitute teaching until her divorce in 1983. She was also the manager of a video store for a brief time. After the divorce, Karen, Andrea and Christoffer moved to Rupert, ID where she had been hired as a High School Art teacher at Minidoka County High School. Her students there also won awards for their art, frequently for the Ore-Ida Christmas Card contest... She taught there for 16 years until her retirement in 1999. While living in Rupert, Karen was frequently involved in community events. She helped with costumes for High School productions. She shared opinions which were published in local papers: The Times-News and The Weekly Mailer. Her picture appeared in local papers for art she had done, for selling some of her home-grown produce, and one time when a couple of young men helped her when she had fallen and broken her leg. Karen spent the last two weeks of her life in Pleasant Grove, UT with her daughter-in-law Charlotte and two grandchildren. Karen is survived by her daughter Kari (Earl) Marshall and their six sons and six daughters-in-law; Dave (Mara) Hansen and his three sons and one daughter; son-in-law Nathan Seeley and his two sons and one daughter; and daughter-in-law Charlotte Hansen and her three sons and one daughter. Karen is also survived by three great-grandsons and eight great-granddaughters and many nieces and nephews. Karen was preceded in death by her daughter Andrea Louise Seeley and her son Christoffer Erik Hansen. She was also preceded in death by her parents Stan and Lois Andersen, by her sisters Joan Francis Anderson, Barbara Fox, and Marjorie Neilson; and by her brother Stan Anderson. The viewing will be on Saturday, 25 April, 2026 from 9:00-10:15 am, followed by a Funeral at 10:30 am. (Location: Grove Creek Stake Center, 1176 North 730 East, Pleasant Grove, UT 84062.) After a brief graveside service at 2:30 that afternoon in the Ephraim City Park Cemetery (620 N Main St, Ephraim, UT), Karen will be buried next to her brother Stan. The family appreciates all the expressions of love, help, kind wishes and support that have been shared with them. In lieu of flowers, we invite you to please make a donation to one of these two organization: *ASPCA - Your Gift Could Save a Life https://share.google/UF1bwtJIcJq4ETHUdand *America's VetDogs the Veterans K9 Corps - -Donate Now https://share.google/iCzl9IwmTsLvtFx1A Please share memories and condolences at www.serenityfhs.com.

Karen Kay Anderson Hansen

October 17, 1934 - April 15, 2026