This is an early picture of Aunt Donna, or "Nunny" as Lill and Lee called her. Grandma Lill is below and the other children are included in the entire picture, which I will share later. She was in high school when this picture was taken, and is as beautiful as my mom and Aunt Jeannie were.
I didn't have a lot of early exposure to my mother's youngest sister, Donna, but I can remember her audacious laugh. She had gotten married to Bill Wallace, an army officer and was living in New Mexico where he had the duty at White Sands Missile Range. In April of 1955, when I was just finishing up third grade, Donna and Bill became the parents of their first child, a boy, they named Kelly.
All the Hanson girls were beautiful and they had very distinct personalities. My mother was a rebel and liked bizarre literature and art, the more far-out the better. Jeannie was a classic beauty, accommodating and friendly to anyone. Donna was a spitfire.
Their mother, Grandma Lill, was a pragmatic, devout, matter-of-fact, no nonsense person and they all interacted with her differently. My mother would listen to her advice and then "go right around her" doing what she pleased. Jeannie would negotiate and reason. Donna would be right in her face. I can so remember Donna's voice in a conversation with Grandma Lill, saying something like, "Oh Gawd, mudtherrr! That is sooo asinine!"
Donna loved to use the word asinine.
Bill Wallace was a pretty neat guy. He was extremely bright and was a handsome officer to boot.
After a couple summers with my babysitter/housekeeper watching me, I think Grandma Lill got lonesome for me and suggested that I come to stay at the farm with her and Lee for a few weeks in the summer.
This was a great idea because Aunt Jeannie was living in the divorcee apartment upstairs and Danny and I got to play endlessly with his wagon. We also roamed around the farm playing war games in all of the buildings, sneaking around in the wooded areas, and such. Danny was five years younger, but my lack of maturity made up for it and we were nearly like brothers. I don't remember us ever fighting.
This became the norm for about three consecutive summers. Donna and Bill would come and visit for maybe the better part of a week and we got to know our third musketeer, Kelly. Kelly was only two or three but he was quite precocious and wanted very much to be included. We accommodated him most of the time but would sometimes ditch him because, I suppose, we thought we were just too grown up to have him tagging along. The truth of the matter was that although I was five years older than Danny, I was probably at about the same maturity level, give or take a year and Kelly was probably a bit advanced for his young age and fit in with us quite well if you discount the physical skills.
Usually, however, we could find all kinds of adventures on the farm, and had a lot of fun.
Donna and Bill had a Ford Thunderbird, the one with the little round windows in the back. It was really sporty; that's the kind of guy Bill was, sort of like a combination of Tom Cruise and Steve McQueen. He was very assertive and sure of himself.
They both smoked cigarettes and I can remember riding in the back of the T-Bird while they drove into town. It was hot summer and the air conditioner was on, circulating their cigarette smoke throughout the car, burning my eyes and choking me.
I can remember Kelly asking his dad a question about something some adult had said that was objectionable and made him curious.
"Some people are just ...holes, Kelly," Bill answered, and drove on.
I think that Bill was quite important down in White Sands, because they always seemed to go back there. I would not see Donna very often, but when my mother and her sisters did get together at the farm, it would always be a huge party with lots of laughter and drinking.
Grandma Lill did not approve much of drinking, but when her girls would be sitting around laughing and chattering, each in her own distinct way, her eyes would twinkle and she would jiggle with laughter.
My aunts were always loving and kind to us kids, and I remember them with nothing but fondness. It is somewhat sad that each in her turn had a stormy marriage followed by divorce. Donna and Bill had one more child, the first girl that we knew about. I will explain this caveat later because their infant daughter Terry was actually just the first girl cousin that we knew about in those days.
Then, as years went on, their marriage broke up and I believe Donna and the kids spent some short time living at the farm while things settled.
Do not despair, dear readers, because better times are coming for all three in due course.
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