Mary Hansen Tollenaere

November 20, 1924 - June 17, 2023

Mary, age 98, passed away peacefully in her home in Ashland, Oregon. She will be truly missed by her five children, Elizabeth (John) Walsh '68, Homer (Cynthia) Tollenaere '70, Stephanie (Peter) Tollenaere '71, Caswell Abrams '74 (Matthew), and Jennifer Tollenaere; her ten grandchildren, and her seven great-grandchildren, all of whom she loved dearly.

A native of California, Mary grew up in what is now the San Fernando Valley until 1939 when the family horse ranch was selected by the Army Corps of Engineers as the site of the Hansen Dam. The family moved to a suburb of Los Angeles, where Mary attended South Pasadena-San Marino High School and subsequently Iowa State University where she graduated with a BS in Animal Husbandry. During this time she met her beloved husband, Lawrence (Larry), who had returned to Iowa State to teach after serving in the US Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theater. Mary and Larry were married in 1948.

From 1955 to 1957 the young family lived in Bogota, Columbia, where Larry oversaw building the Bogota aqueduct and Mary adapted to caring for a family in a foreign country in the midst of a civil war. They returned to South Pasadena to rasie their children and in later years Mary traveled extensively with Larry on business trips to Europe, the Middle East and Japan. Their vacation time was spent on the island of Maui, where they enjoyed the climate, the ocean, and views of the proximate islands. Mary had many interests:  playing a fierce game of tennis, excelling at bridge and Mahjong, birding and augmenting her bird list, studying Spanish and Ikebana flower arranging, and gardening.

Mary was greatly loved by her family and friends. She was gracious and graceful. She understood people's feelings and took great care in her relationships, and was a good judge of character, and the advice she gave was always sound and compassionate. She was a joy to spend time with and taught her children and grandchildren the value of a life well lived and enjoyed.