Elaine (Hanson) Meisch

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Meisch, Elaine (Hanson) Architect, wife and mother, Elaine Agnes Hanson Meisch of Edina died on April 6, 2015, just short of her 97th birthday. A third-generation descendent of Swedish immigrants, Elaine was born in Minneapolis on May 17, 1918, and graduated from North High School in 1935 at the height of the Great Depression. She attended the University of Minnesota, where she met her future husband, Francis R. Meisch, and graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1939. As a student member of Alpha Alpha Gamma (The Association of Women in Architecture), she and members of her sorority had tea with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Elaine and Francis, now an architect, married in 1942. From 1939-1943 she worked as an interior design consultant for H.S. Cleveland Company, and was included in the first edition of Who's Who in American Women. In 1947 the couple jointly won 2nd prize in a national architectural design competition sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. Elaine also had four children: Richard, Lynn, Lois and Robert, and saw stints as a Cub Scout Den Mother and Brownie and Girl Scout Leader. She gave wonderful, creative birthday parties and sewed clothes for her daughters, but Elaine also retained her membership in and activities with The Association of Women in Architecture, and as a charter member of the National Home Fashions League. Later Elaine made a seamless transition back into the work force, working as an Interior Design Consultant for UNIVAC from 1967-71, and for the Sperry Rand Corporation in 1978-79, among other companies. From 1967 through 1980 she and Francis traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central and South America both for work and for pleasure. In her next phase, Elaine established the Interior Design and Sales Program at Dakota County Technical Institute, teaching there for 12 years. She also taught evening courses for four years for Edina's and Minneapolis' Adult Education Programs and was awarded the Dakota County Technical Institute's Teacher of Excellence Award 1982-83. Elaine loved gardening, her book club, her involvement in the American Association of University Women, and visits with her many friends; she was the epitome of "Minnesota Nice." Elaine was preceded in death by her husband, Francis R. Meisch and by her son, Robert Meisch, and is survived by her son Richard Meisch of Houston, TX (Diane Tanabe), daughters Lynn Meisch of Walnut Creek, CA. and Lois Meisch of Edina, daughter-in-law Ann Schimke Meisch of Minneapolis and many nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her sister, Jerry Hanson, Fresno, CA and brother, Alden Hanson, Colorado Springs, CO. A celebration of her life will be held in mid-June; details to be published later.

Published on April 19, 2015