Nanaimo woman was artist, nature lover
The 72-year-old woman found dead after a six-day search near Ladysmith is being remembered by family as an artist, business owner and photographer who took pleasure in nature’s quiet beauty.
Faye Hanson was foraging in a wooded area near Timberlands and Ninatti roads on Oct. 22 when she fell down a steep incline and hurt her shoulder, said Hanson’s daughter Marilee Hobbs, who was given that information by the RCMP and the coroner.
Hanson, who is petite and was not dressed for a night outdoors, took shelter under a log. It’s believed she died that night from exposure, Hobbs said.
The next day, a friend reported her missing, triggering a massive search from the air and ground that involved nearly 100 searchand-rescue volunteers, police and canine teams. Her body was found Saturday morning, six days after she went missing.
While Hanson was active on social media with other foraging and hiking enthusiasts, Hobbs wants her mother to be remembered as more than a mushroom picker.
Hanson and her brother, John, were raised in the farming community of Vermilion in central Alberta. She started a career as a dental assistant, but eventually turned her green thumb into a profession, running a florist business and commercial greenhouses. Hanson taught her three daughters, Marilee, Trina and Carrie, about plants and enrolled them in Scouts Canada so they would have knowledge of the outdoors.
When her daughters left home, Hanson went back to college to study visual communications, the start of a successful career as an artist.
She moved to Vancouver Island in the late 1980s and a few years later, met her husband, Wes Hanson, at a singles dance in Nanaimo. Her family grew as she became a stepmother to his children, Tiffany and Jeff. Faye and Wes were married in 2005.
“They did everything together,” Tiffany Hanson said.
When they wanted a break from their carpet and upholstery business in Nanaimo, the couple would hop in their motorhome for road trips to Alberta and Saskatchewan, she said. It was on those trips that Hanson would get to visit her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who are scattered across B.C. and Alberta.
Hanson opened an art gallery in Nanaimo, which displayed her pottery and sculptures. She promoted local artists in the community during her time as president of the Nanaimo Arts Council, Hobbs said.
“Everything she did involved arts and photography. She always had something she wanted to work on.”
Hanson relished her time outdoors and would capture photos of delicate flowers, patterns found in tree bark and green moss on the forest floor. “She enjoyed finding the beauty in nature,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs thanked search-and-rescue volunteers and the RCMP for their work during the search.
She said the family has received messages of condolences from friends, family and people who connected with Hanson online.
“Everyone who met her loved her very much,” Hobbs said.