Melia Allene Hansen's Obituary
Melia Allene Pittman was born on June 23, 1925 in El Dorado, Arkansas. She and her family moved to Prescott, Arkansas later where she spent most of her childhood. Her family called her Dugie, which was a nickname given to her by her grandparents, whose youngest son, Henry Luther Pittman, called “Dugie”, died at the age of two. She eventually had 4 siblings, 3 brothers and a sister, Tillman Ernest “Dick”, Sidney Allen “Pete”, (AKA Kirby Allan), Nettie Mae “Peck”, and Richard Arlis “Tootles”. When Dugie was 13 her family moved to Tucson, Arizona where her father had found work at Sunset Dairy. Her Father, John Allen Pittman, had built a little house on Higgins Lane, Northwest of Tucson before he brought his family. She went to Roskruge Junior High and then later Tucson High School, where she graduated in 1942. While she was in high school she worked at a lunch counter called Austin’s. Mrs. Austin was always very kind to her and gave her a lot of responsibility.
Across the street lived a family with a young son. His friend, Philip Hansen, would come over often to work on cars. Dugie and Philip eventually met and the rest is history.
Dugie’s parents didn’t go to church. When they were living in Arkansas she always wanted to go to the church nearby. When she was old enough she started walking across the fields to go to Pleasant Hill Church on Sundays by herself. After they moved to Tucson she would go to the Salvation Army Church downtown. Eventually she started going to the Flowing Wells Lutheran Mission which had been started by Philip’s parents, Christian and Nellie Hansen, in their home. After graduation, Dugie and her friend Joyce, Philip’s younger sister, both started working at Steinfeld’s Department Store downtown. She worked there for about a year until her marriage.
On July 4, 1943 Dugie was Baptized and Confirmed at the Lutheran Church. Later in the day she and Philip were married. They lived in a little apartment on Prince Rd while they started building a house on a part of the Hansen property on Flowing Wells Rd. Because of the War, WWII, they were unable to buy wood to build a house. However, Dugie’s father was able to get wood for a chicken coop. So he gave them the wood and they got started. They moved into it before it was done and worked on it every day. Philip was working at McAda’s dairy at the time and beginning to acquire some cows of his own.
Their first child, Nellie Ann came along on April 22, 1944. Philip was drafted into the U.S. Army in November of 1944. He spent 3 months in California for Basic Training and was shipped off to the Phillipines in the Spring of 1945. He served in the Phillipines and Japan, and returned home in October of 1946. Their second daughter, Phyllis Allene was born on December 14, 1945 and their third daughter, Lois Elaine, was born on July 6, 1947. They always wanted a big family and were well on their way. John Christian was born July 11, 1948, David Paul on December 26, 1950, Rebecca Jean on March 7, 1952, Daniel Philip on March 17, 1953, Karen Ruth on July 9, 1954, Peter Benjamin on March 13, 1956, and Stephen Wayne on June 12, 1958.
The family attended church at the Flowing Wells Mission until Redeemer Lutheran Church was built on Yavapai Rd. in 1947. All of the children were baptized and confirmed at Redeemer and went to Redeemer Lutheran School from 1st to 8th grade.
In 1952 Philip and Dugie sold their little house on Flowing Wells Rd and moved into a house on Prince Rd where they started a dairy with 60 cows, and grew 10 acres of alfalfa. That lasted for several years and then they sold the cows and moved into the Hansen Family Home with Grandma Nellie on Flowing Wells and Roger Rd. Philip went to work at Holsum Bakery as the night time supervisor. In 1956 they bought a property on Wetmore Rd with a small house on 2 ½ acres. They went right to work planting a large orchard of 30 fruit trees. They later added fig trees, grape vines and another 20 trees. They always had a cow and chickens. They sold fruit and did a lot of canning and freezing. After Philip’s 20 years at Holsum Bakery, they started AP Upholstery in their garage. They upholstered car seats and furniture, as well as all the pews at Redeemer church. They also spent many years delivering the morning newspaper.
In 1983 they sold their property on Wetmore and bought a home on 5 acres farther North close to Marana. They had acquired quite a few Grandchildren by then and one of their hobbies was taking many pictures and videos of everyone at every event and at the many family gatherings that took place over the years. They also enjoyed traveling, often to Arkansas for family reunions and where Dugie had inherited some property from her family. In 1988 they started the Oro Valley Post Office, a contract station off of Oracle Rd. They ran the post office with 200 P.O. Boxes and a little gift shop in the lobby until they finally retired in 1999 when the new Post Office opened up on Tangerine. They were 74 and 76.
Dugie loved life and was always excited about everything she did. Sewing was one of her favorite activities. She made clothes for all of her children as they were growing up, and for herself most of her life. One year she made a camouflage T-shirt for everyone in the family for Christmas, all sizes, for about 80 people. She took roller skating lessons when she was in her 50s and then rented the skating rink for the whole family for an afternoon of skating. Dugie was an excellent cook and always had 3 square meals prepared for her family every day.
Dugie and Philip spent their retirement years continuing with their hobbies of photography and making videos, and enjoying their large and growing family, which now totals 140 plus. They spent their days taking care of their property, growing citrus trees, flowers, and usually a vegetable garden. Dugie also enjoyed cleaning the church on Saturday mornings for many years with several of her long time friends and meeting them for Friday morning Bible Classes. Philip and Dugie read the Bible together every morning on their computer, reading it from beginning to end at least 11 times.
Philip went to Heaven on November 28, 2014 and Dugie on March 4, 2018. They were preceded in death by their daughters Karen Ruth Spencer (Clark) in 1981 and Lois Elaine Sherwood (Richard) in 2017. They are survived by 8 children, Nellie Ann Galloway (George), Phyllis Allene Green (David), John Christian Hansen (Mary), David Paul Hansen (DeeDee), Rebecca Jean Price (Pete), Daniel Philip Hansen (Dawn), Peter Benjamin Hansen (Redonna), and Stephen Wayne Hansen (Sandy). Dugie and Philip were blessed with 26 grandchildren, 61 great grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren. They were also blessed with many more grandchildren through marriage and they loved them all as their own.
There is a Memorial Service planned for Dugie on Sunday, March 25, 2018 at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 8845 N. Silverbell Rd. Tucson, Arizona.
The service will begin at 4:00pm with a supper following the service in the Ministry Center.
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