Sailors serving on the tropical island of Guam during World War II were unable to find anything that resembled a traditional Christmas tree.
An International Red Cross director found the lack of a holiday symbol unacceptable. She persuaded a ship’s carpenter to scrounge up some dowels and sticks and fashion a facsimile tree.
Lillian Marie Hannam made the tree ornaments, which delighted sailors across the island.
The Everett woman was ahead of her time in understanding the value of serving her country and seeking a higher education. After graduating from the University of Washington in 1941, she didn’t stop studying. At age 89, she was studying at the University of Hawaii and working on a master’s degree at the University of Southern California.
She died of heart failure Sept. 5. Her granddaughter, Gwendolyn Hannam, said her grandmother boldly went where few other women had gone in her era.
“Grandma never gave up on anything,” Hannam said. “I will never give up. My grandmother taught me that.”
The granddaughter said she was amazed at how her grandmother could tell stories about everyone she had ever met.
“She was an amazing role model,” Hannam said. “Life is about giving, and she lived that. She shines in everything I do.”
Lillian was born in Woodland, and became an English and physical education teacher. She taught at the secondary and college levels in Idaho, Longview, Quinault, South Junior High School in Everett and Olympic View Middle School in Mukilteo.
She married Frank Hannam in 1951, and they divorced in 1961.
She was preceded in death by her brother Gordon Youngstrom and sister-in-law Irene Youngstrom of Portland, Ore. She is survived by brother Dr. George Bryce Youngstrom of Mukilteo, son Douglas Hannam, her granddaughter, and numerous nephews and nieces.
Hannam taught her son while she was involved with the Red Cross National Aquatic School, and served as a swim coach at the University of Washington, where she coached and competed in synchronized swimming with the Silver Fishes.
Friend Mary Moore said Hannam was the most wonderful person. Even though they lived in the same town, they wrote back and forth about life and grandchildren, using the nicknames Moo Gal Mary and Diamond Lil.
For more than 25 years, Lillian Hannam was active with Mukilteo Presbyterian Church. Mary Lou Robertson worked with Hannam in the Ruth Circle and said her friend initiated a Christmas cookie walk in which sweets were sold by the pound.
Pastor Mark Smith said Hannam’s enthusiasm was contagious.
“She was gifted about organization,” Smith said. “She had a heart the size of Texas. She was what every pastor dreams about.”
He said he’ll remember Hannam toting a cigar box as she handled the money at church charity events. She would marvel at how the money would help people, Smith said.
It’s hard to believe there will be no more of Hannam’s famous pear pies, which fetched up to $100 at church auctions, he added.
On the negative side, Hannam was known for having a lead foot. She taught her son to drive one day by having him take the wheel of her blue Volkswagen, without warning, on Mukilteo Boulevard. The world lost an adventurous spirit when his mother died, he said.
Douglas Hannam said his mother had so many friends, he had to recharge his cell phone twice as he made the calls about her death. Everyone wanted to share Lillian stories. Every year, she sent and received hundreds of Christmas cards.
When Doug Hannam was a boy, his parents moved to an apartment with no fireplace. He moaned that Santa would never find him. Like her days on Guam, his mother used her imagination to make a special Christmas. She fashioned a fireplace out of an empty cardboard box covered with paper in a brick pattern.
“I had more fun with that brick box,” Doug Hannam said. “She encouraged creativity.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com .
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