In Memory of Linda Hansen (November 9, 1948 – October 30, 2020)

The Ministries and Faith Development staff offer our condolences to the family and colleagues of the Rev. Dr. Linda Marie Hansen who died on October 30, 2020 at the age of 71.

Linda was born on November 9, 1948 in Chicago to Robert and Catherine (Therese) Hansen. Her sister was born soon after, and when Linda was seven the family moved to Hinsdale, IL. Linda attended Siena Heights College, where she earned a B.A. in Philosophy in 1970. She earned a M.A. in Philosophy from Marquette University, in 1974, and then joined Clarke College in Dubuque, IA as an Instructor of Philosophy.

Linda pursued her doctoral degree while an Instructor, earning her Ph.D. from Marquette in 1976. Dr. Hansen’s dissertation was “A Move to Positive Human Relationships: Sartre to de Beauvoir.” She continued teaching at Clarke as an Assistant Professor until 1979, when Dr. Hansen became an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN. She earned tenure in 1983 and became an Associate Professor. During the summers of 1984-6, Dr. Hansen served as a Visiting Tutor in the Graduate Institute of Liberal Education at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD.

Dr. Hansen, who had been raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, began to doubt her faith when, in her own words, “the suffering of others became real to me in a new way, and with that the impossibility of reconciling such suffering with a loving and all-powerful God.” She recognized that she had been waiting to find a religious tradition in which she could pursue not only ethics and “the Big Questions,” but matters of social justice.

Pulled by her interests in process and feminist theologies, in 1984, Dr. Hansen enrolled in Pacific School of Religion, in Berkeley, CA and earned a Master of Arts degree in Theology, in 1988. She also began attending the First Universalist Church in Minneapolis, MN, and became a member there in 1990. Together, these factors led to Dr. Hansen turning towards the Unitarian Universalist ministry.

Due to her Ph.D. in Philosophy, the requirement of a Master of Divinity degree was waived for Linda, who was able to complete quickly, at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, the coursework necessary for ministerial fellowship. Since she was still new to Unitarian Universalism, she chose to gain more experience as a UU layperson before starting her internship, in 1993, at West Shore UU Church in Rocky River, OH.

In 1994, Dr. Hansen was called by The Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist in Cedar Rapids, IA, and that congregation ordained her on November 6, 1994. Rev. Dr. Hansen served them until 2003, when she was called by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury (CT). She served them until 2008, when she spent a year in a Milwaukee hospital serving a chaplaincy residency. In 2009, however, Rev. Dr. Hansen realized that she missed parish ministry, and began serving the United UU Congregation in Waukesha, WI.

Linda retired in 2014, which allowed her to spend more time volunteering in animal shelters—a beloved activity that began when Linda “was adopted” by three cats in Danbury. She and her sister also volunteered together at the library and delivered meals to shut-ins and took care of their mother in the home that they all shared.

Rev. Dr. Hansen is widely remembered as a quiet and caring soul who was able to influence and affect many people. “She brought such depth to her ministry, recalls a former parishioner, Jane Leff. “She was such an original thinker, and she braided all that she’d thought about into stunning sermons.”

One of Rev. Dr. Hansen’s colleagues, Rev. Sue Redfern Campbell, succeeded her in that congregation and remarks that Linda “was unfailingly kind and helpful as we made the transition from her ministry to mine. I experienced her as one of the kindest people I’ve met. She seemed to come from a deeper place than ego.”

“Linda was a gentle, kind, and humble minister who gave me the gift of feeling important, like I mattered, when I was with her,” affirms another colleague, Rev. Peggy Clarke. “She quietly mentored me by demonstrating her own desire to learn and to stretch herself so that she might better serve others. Speaking without judgement, every conversation was pastoral, even as it was informed by a deep well of knowledge and great wisdom.”

Linda was preceded in death by her parents, and is survived by her sister Marian Hansen, and loving friends and family members.