By Paige Norman
Left: Weber House, Center: Wayne R. Hansen, Right: Lucille B. Hansen-Bellings with her two children, Christine and Tom.
Wayne R. Hansen was born on September 8, 1913 in Snohomish, Washington to Robert Andrew and Lottie Ann (Loudon) Hansen. Wayne’s brother, Reed, was born in 1917. Wayne attended Lincoln High School in Seattle, where he met his future wife, Lucille B. Stoll. They married in 1936, and lived in Seattle until they purchased property on East Lake Sammamish in 1944.
Lucille Bellings Stoll was born January 28, 1913, to Clyde M. and Blanche (Schwickert) Stoll. The 1930 census shows her living with her parents and three brothers, Richard H. (age 11), Edwin C. (age 7), and Harry J. (age 1).
In 1944, J.A. Martin placed an ad in the classified section of the newspaper for the “Weber House,” named after Joseph Weber, former president and manager of the Sammamish Shingle Mill. Wayne and Lucille had dreamed of moving to a more rural setting, and the Weber house met their needs.
According to an interview with Lucille Hansen Bellings in "Remembering" with local historian Margaret Q. Breedman, the house was very remote, and because many people did not have phones, the family left the home unlocked to allow neighbors to use their phone in an emergency. The phone was on a ”party line” and shared with 10 other households: each house had a distinctive signal for their ”party.” Ms. Hansen spear-headed the effort to bring the 10-party phone line into Redmond, and was also instrumental in coordinating delivery of milk to East Lake Sammamish.
Wayne and Lucille had two children: Tom, born in 1942, and Christine, born in 1946. Both graduated from Lake Washington High School. Lucille continued to keep everything on the home front moving, including making pies from the apples in the family backyard. Wayne Hansen would transport Lucille's homemade pies to restaurants on his way to work at Richfield Oil Company, where he was a truck driver and dispatcher. Lucille was able to purchase a home freezer, which she shared with the ladies in the neighborhood.
Wayne and Lucille were active volunteers in their community. Wayne was a Grange Master for the Happy Valley Grange, and active in the YMCA. Lucille and many other women from the Grange were responsible for the first float entry in the Redmond Bicycle Derby (now Derby Days) circa 1949. The float was built on top of daughter Christine’s baby buggy. Lucille also sewed costumes for the PTA Circus, worked part-time altering clothing for women in the Redmond area, and volunteered as a Girl Scout leader, teaching camping skills.
After Wayne died of a heart attack in May 1962, Lucille worked at Redmond Floors and continued to live on East Lake Sammamish until 1978, when she married Chuck Bellings and moved to Education Hill. She continued to live in that home until her death in 2007 (Redmond Recorder, September 2007, p. 5). She is buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery, next to her first husband Wayne.
Wayne and Lucille’s son, Tom Hansen, continues the tradition of community involvement; volunteering with the Redmond Historical Society and providing a wealth of information regarding Redmond’s history. Tom purchased a Lifetime Membership in memoriam for Lucille, Mother’s Day 2009 (Redmond Recorder, June 2009, p. 4), and one for Wayne, April 2011 (Redmond Recorder, May 2011, p. 8).
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