Hanson led school bond campaign, traveled world

By: QUINN EASTMAN - Staff Writer | Friday, June 29, 2007 11:21 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- In Solana Beach in the 1960s, Jean Patricia Hanson was a leader of a campaign to pass a school bond for the San Dieguito school district.

Later in life, she traveled the world with her husband, Bill, who founded Escondido's successful Hanson Realty.

Hanson was a gracious hostess and energetic mother, her friends and family said.

"She was a go-getter," said her daughter Vicky Johnson of San Marcos. "Whatever she did, she did 100 percent."

Hanson died June 8 in Escondido. She was 82.

She was born on Sept. 3, 1924, in Iowa as Jean Franck. She attended Hoover High School in San Diego and was a drum majorette. In 1944, she married fellow Hoover graduate Jack Biery, a fighter pilot in World War II.

She moved to Oregon during Biery's military service and then returned to San Diego County after the war, Johnson said. Biery ran a cattle ranch in the Olivenhain area and the couple moved to Solana Beach, where he served as president of the Solana Beach Chamber of Commerce.

They had two children, Vicky and Jay. Hanson became active in leading Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and eventually became the president of the PTA.

"She probably was involved in Girl Scouts longer than she would have liked because I wouldn't go unless my mom went," Johnson said. "We were always a close family."

When local elementary schools became crowded, Hanson threw herself into a bond campaign to build a new elementary school, her daughter said.

When her children became older, she worked at a department store and would have them stop by after school. She worked as a secretary at Children's Hospital in San Diego from 1973 to 1986.

With her second husband, Bill Hanson, she enjoyed having friends over to play tennis, sometimes several times per week.

Paul Van Elderen, who bought Mr. Hanson's realty business in 1974, recalled "pleasant times" at the Hansons' tennis court and socializing afterward.

Bill Hanson came to the United States from Copenhagen, Denmark, and the couple regularly visited that country and took cruises all over the globe.

"He showed her the world, and she loved every minute of it," Johnson said.

Hanson was involved in charity activities in Mexico. After her second husband died in 1993, she enjoyed traveling the American Southwest with a friend, her daughter said.

Contact staff writer Quinn Eastman at (760) 740-5412 or qeastman@nctimes.com.