Rhonda Sue Hanson

Rhonda Sue Hanson, 63, of Bryan, Texas passed away January 8, 2018 at CHI St. Joseph Hospital in Bryan, TX. Rhonda was born on June 14, 1954, in Wiesbaden, Germany where her father served in the U.S. Air Force. Rhonda travelled extensively starting at the age of 6 weeks when she crossed the Atlantic Ocean on her first plane ride. The family settled in at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, before transferring in 1957 to Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. They then moved in 1962 to Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Upon her father’s retirement from the Air Force in 1967, they moved to Childress, Texas. Lt. Col. Otis L. Garrison (Retired) was a proud Texas A&M graduate in the Class of ’39. After college he worked as a ranch manager; served in the Air Force for 20 years and later the Soil Conservation Service. Harriett Allene Alexander Garrison was a proud Aggie Wife and homemaker, having worked at the Shell Oil Refinery during World War II. Rhonda was the typical “little sister”, following Donna and Mack whenever they let her. Being four years older, Donna felt that Rhonda was her baby; pushing her in her doll buggy, helping with bath time and rolling her hair on pink foam rollers.

Her childhood was spent on military bases where she was allowed the freedom to ride her bike and roller skate with neighborhood kids without much supervision. She was a little bit of a daredevil: one time she decided she could stand up on the seat of her bike while racing along. Unfortunately, she hit a bump, flew over the handlebars and landed on her head.

The family went on many fishing and camping trips around the Midwest in a 13-foot camping trailer. On those trips, daily grooming was not a priority. Rhonda is seen in many pictures with uncombed hair and her Buster Brown shorts or pants twisted to the front, because she had dressed herself. Her childhood friend, Kathy Thompson, and her family often went along in their trailer.

She was also a little prankster in the car. Her daddy always wore his cowboy hat while driving. Rhonda would wad up little pieces of paper and put them on the back brim of her daddy’s Stetson and then laugh like crazy when he got out of the car to pump gas to go into a restaurant with little, white dots on his hat!

Childress was the perfect small town for a teenager in the 1960’s. In high school, she was active in the marching band where she played the flute, Future Teachers, and Future Homemakers. She “made the Drag” on the weekends, cruising up and down Hwy 287 with her best friends, Barbara Sue, Lydia, Mary Sue, Terri, and Carolyn, listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. She was selected Outstanding Girl of the Year by the Daughters of the American Revolution. She graduated from Childress High School in 1972 and tried to attend every reunion they held. Her mom loved to “crash” those reunions whenever possible, just to catch up with Rhonda’s friends.

Rhonda followed Donna to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos for college. She loved SWT! Along with special friends Cheryl Glidden, Cathy Hutzler and Jan, she spent lots of time at the river when she should have been studying. She graduated in 1976 with a Degree in Elementary Education and taught school until 1984 in Markham, Texas.

In January of 1979, Rhonda met John Paul at the birthday party of a mutual friend. She bowled with her mother in State and National tournaments and on other bowling teams for many years. This birthday party was for one of her team members on her bowling team. John Paul had gone through a tough divorce four years earlier and was reluctant to enter into a serious relationship. Instead, he fell head over heels in love with Rhonda and planned to spend the rest of his life with her. On July 14, 1979 Rhonda and John got married at First United Methodist Church in Van Vleck, TX. Rhonda became a loving mother to Lisa Lynn and Laura Lee. They had a lot of adventures throughout the early 80’s with John Paul’s shrimp boat. They relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 1984 where Rhonda started working for American Eagle at DFW airport. In June of 1988, Rhonda and John Paul became the proud parents to Stephanie Danielle. While living in Mansfield, TX, Rhonda, John, and Stephanie became members of First United Methodist Church in Mansfield. Rhonda was very active in bible studies with other women from church. Rhonda was a great mother to Stephanie and followed her to every softball game across the state of Texas. She loved following Stephanie so much that Rhonda and John decided to follow her to Bryan/College Station in 2008.

Because she was raised by a Good Ag, Rhonda loved everything about Texas A&M from an early age, attending football games, learning the yells, and making sure that her daughter, Steffi also loved it enough to want to go there. There was never a prouder mother than Rhonda when Steffi graduated from A&M and married an Aggie! Rhonda joined the Aggie Mom’s Club in Brazos County and participated in many events with that group. In October 2017, her daughter, Stephanie and son-in-law, Patrick welcomed identical twin boys, Ross and John. Rhonda was the happiest she has ever been in her life taking care of her twin grandbabies until her passing.

Rhonda is preceded in death by her parents. Rhonda is survived by her husband of 38 years, John Paul Hanson of Bryan, daughters: Lisa Snyder of Bay City; Laura Shelby and husband, Andrew of Itasca; Stephanie Wilson and husband, Patrick of College Station. Grandchildren: Christopher Paul Snyder and wife, Blanca, Trent Snyder, Amber Shelby, Jordan Shelby, Ross Wilson, and John Wilson. Great-grandchildren: Efrain, Isaiah, Isabel, Joey, and Rylee. Rhonda is also survived by her sister, Donna Harthcock and husband, Britt of Round Rock and brother, Roy Mack Garrison and wife, Suzan of Ingram, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, and friends.

Visitation will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Hillier Funeral Home in College Station. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, January 13, 2018 at A&M United Methodist Church in College Station, TX with burial following at 3:00 p.m. Bryan City Cemetery in Bryan. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations to be made to A&M United Methodist Church or CHI St. Joseph Health Foundation/Critical Care Unit.