Rosemary 'Bunny' (Rathbun) Hannah

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Hannah, Rosemary (Bunny) Rathbun Age 97; Born November 15, 1920, in Detroit Lakes, MN; died April 12, 2018. Preceded in death by parents Russell and Laverne Roquette Rathbun; hus band, James B. Hannah; sister-in-law Virginia Swanson Hannah. Survived by daughter, Holly (Barrs) Lewis; son Duncan Hannah (Megan Wilson); granddaughter Hannah Kathryn Lewis (Ehsan Kayal); grandson Sage (Aleigh) Lewis; four great-granddaughters, Maisie, Anahita, Rose, and Beatrix, living in California and France; and brother-in-law Donald F. Swanson. Rosemary attended Margaret Fuller Elementary, Ramsey Junior High, and Washburn High School. She pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Minnesota/and was loyal to the sorority her entire life. She married Jim on Christmas Eve, 1942, in Florida, because Christmas Day was the only day he had off from naval officer training. Two months later he sailed for war in the Pacific. Rosemary took a job at NW Airlines in San Francisco, where she tirelessly worked to get servicemen home quickly on their short leaves. Except for that stint, and another in Boston while Jim was in law school, she lived in Minneapolis all her life. Rosemary was a wonderful wife, daughter, mother and grandmother, loyal to hosts of friends. She worked hard on the March of Dimes to end polio; on Planned Parenthood and the DFL; and as a Junior Leaguer, both active and sustainer. She and Jim loved dancing with the Levitants dance club and she was an avid golfer. She made most of her own and Holly's clothes. Once the children were grown, she bravely and successfully took on a career in interior decorating, for which she was not trained but had always showed remarkable flair. She and Jim also began travelling extensively to Europe for skiing and touring, and also returned to the islands of the South Pacific where Jim had fought in the war. In later years they took many Elderhostel courses. Cheerful, loyal, and reliable, "Bunny" was always taking cassaroles to sick friends and hosting bridge games. She sat by Jim's bed daily for 4 years at the Veteran's Home before he died in 2004. She survived cancer three times, and never complained, though her last treatment led to Alzheimers, from which she suffered for 10 years at Walker Place and Sunrise of Roseville. Throughout her life, Bunny was principled, caring, funny, bright, optimistic, brave, smart, gregarious, party-loving, twinkly and beloved. The entry in the Washburn High School yearbook of 1939 said, "She's little, she's wise, she's a terror for her size...." Memorials may be directed to Planned Parenthood, Washburn High School Foundation, the Cancer Society, or to Alzheimers' Research. Plans for a celebration of Rosemary's life will be announced at a later date.

Published on April 15, 2018