Allison Hanson
Allison “Alli” Dana Hanson, 43 years of age, of Sammamish Washington, passed away on New Year’s day 2019.
Alli was born on July 17, 1975 in Aberdeen, Washington to James and JoAnn (Melhoff) Ray. During Alli’s Elementary school years, the family lived in Yakima, Washington but moved to Vancouver, Washington where she graduated from Columbia River High School. Four years later she graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in Environmental Studies, creating the building block for her career.
Allison worked in the environmental field starting with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). She worked on the state’s biggest transportation projects as the Environmental Services Director for Mega Projects. After 17 years with WSDOT, Allison became the Environmental Department Manager for HNTB, an engineering company in Bellevue. In a short time, she started and grew the environmental department to 10 people.
Allison married the love of her life, Barrett Hanson, on February 17, 2007. Having met at work, they often said the best thing from work was finding each other. They quickly fell in love, sharing a love of family, kids, and spending time together. Whether on a date night, at work, or with family, their time together was filled with smiles and laughs. Their combined love brought forth a beautiful daughter, Malena JoAnne Hanson. Today at the age of 10, Malena has her parents’ planning/goal setting skills and creativity.
Along Alli’s journey, she touched many lives – school and college friends, countless coworkers, and anyone she crossed paths with. Alli had a passion for sending love to anyone who needed good vibes, happy thoughts, and well wishes. From that passion was the creation of her Happy Mail Campaigns. Smiles were generated across the country from those giving to those receiving mail. Her crafting skills and ability to create lovely, heartwarming cards brought smiles for lucky recipients (there were many of us). She supported and celebrated any and all family members, friends, and business associates’ accomplishments.
Allison is survived by her husband, Barrett and their daughter, Malena; her parents, James and JoAnn Ray; a brother, Steve (Kim) Fogo; and a sister, Denise Fogo. She is also survived by her in-laws; Mike and Joanne Hanson; brother in-laws, Brett (Teri) Hanson and Matt Hanson; Aunt, Carolyn Enzler; as well as many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
A graveside service will be held at Sunset Memorial Park on Friday January 11th, 2019 at 2 p.m., followed by a reception at Saron Lutheran-First Presbyterian Church, both located in Hoquiam, Washington.
All family and friends are invited to Alli’s Celebration of Life at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tacoma on Saturday January 26th, 2019 at 11 a.m. to be followed by a reception.
In lieu of flowers please donate to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Donations may be sent to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, P.O. Box 19023, Seattle WA 98109-1023. Checks may be made payable to SCCA with an indication that they are in memory of Alli Hanson for melanoma research.