William James Hannan

One of his granddaughters shared her memories of William (circa 2000):

I remember our Grandfather Hannan as being a kind man with a very subtle sense of humor. My mother told of the time she was buttering toast very slowly, and trying to cover all the spots, not knowing he was watching her. She was about to take a bite, when he grabbed it from her hand and said, "You missed a spot, Baby."

He was very dear to me, I used to enjoy spending time with him in his apartment. He would make coffee for the two of us, by boiling water and coffee in a pan with egg shells, "to clarify the water," as he would say.

His pipe would be going and he would tell me things about Ireland [the birthplace of his parents], none of which I can remember now. He used to take plum, peach, and cherry pits, and carve them into little baskets. I still have a couple of them.

My favorite time with him was when he would tell of the time my mother was born. This in an Irish brogue, he said, "there we were, Marion, Genevieve, Margaret, and me, sitting on the stairway outside your grandmother's room waiting for her to give birth to your mother. Pretty soon we heard a cry and I knew God had blessed us with another child. The eyes of my three darlin' daughters shone in delight as they knew the new baby was here." I will never forget my dear Granddad and the tellin' of this story.

Every month when his pension check arrived he would walk downtown [Boulder, CO] to the tobacco store to replenish his supply. Having done that, he would go to the candy store and buy horehound candy and peppermints, then walk back up the hill to his home. Sweet man.

William only drank occasionally. He preferred whisky. He had a shillelagh stick for walking, possibly from Ireland. He also had a photo of his mother. He had a stroke while living in an old hotel in Denver. [After he moved to Boulder] He was wandering the streets and the police picked him up. His memory had failed him. They called Aunt Marion and quite possibly Ernest [HILL] picked him up and took him to the Highland Mansion.

My mother, three brothers, and I lived with Grandmother Hannan and Aunt Marion at 403 Highland St. in Boulder, when Granddad Hannan decided to leave Grandmother and went to live in Aunt Margaret's apartment. This is what has been referred to as "The Mansion." The house is still standing and has a free standing garage in the back yard. The last I knew, it was being rented to male college students. It looks much smaller to me than it did when I was a child. From there we moved to 1038 University Ave. It was there that Grandmother began to be ill and concocted all kinds of self medicating treatments for what turned out to be cancer of the stomach. From there we moved to 1543 Pine St. Grandmother passed away, we went to live with the Hills, and Aunt Marion went back to Denver to live in an apartment near the Cathedral. My grandmother had a penchant for large, pretentious houses, and liked to furnish them with large damask covered furniture; I know, I had to dust it all the time, plus her millions of knickknacks. As far as I know, all of these houses are still standing....memories...