Charleen Dale Hanger was born December 3, 1911 in a small farmhouse near the town of Cedar Vale, Kansas. Daughter of a minister in the Church of Christ, she was a tomboy in early years, precocious, romantic, and spirited as a teen. She bridled against the demure "parson's daughter" role expected of her, but mostly confined her rebellion to the pages of secret diaries and surprisingly competent poetry that she wrote. Favorite books were Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels and Frank Baum's Oz books.
Too young to participate in the flapper era of the 1920s, she nonetheless dreamed of an independent life as a poet and artist. Reality bit just after she finished high school, in the form of the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing great depression. Unable to afford college, she took classes when she could and supported herself with a job as a sign painter and display arranger at the S. H. Kress department store in Denver. She lived in a shared apartment and sent most of her wages to help support her parents, younger brother, and sister.
She escaped that hardscrabble life when she married a dashing young civil engineer, Lloyd Arnold, three days after Christmas in 1936. They honeymooned in Mexico and soon moved to the Panama Canal Zone where Lloyd worked on the Madden Dam. Leaving the Canal Zone early in 1941 after Charleen became pregnant, they moved to Royal Oak, Michigan near Lloyd's parents. Daughter Lucinda was born on August 30 of that year. Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. That led to a move to San Francisco where Lloyd worked on coastal defenses.
Toward the end of the war they returned to Michigan where Charleen bore sons Roger (December 18, 1944) and James (September 23, 1946). But in the summer of 1949, after the failure of the "Panelcrete Construction" business that Lloyd had started with a partner, they moved to the Denver area. Charleen loved Colorado and the Rocky Mountains and felt Colorado would be a good place to raise a family. They had no savings after the failure of Lloyd's business, but a local banker loaned them the money to buy a hilltop parcel and build a house in an unincorporated area west of Denver. It was an area of apple orchards, horse pastures, and irrigation ditches at the edge of suburbia -- an ideal backdrop for raising three independent-minded children.
For the romantic spirit that she had been, life as a housewife and mother chafed. Charleen never let that show and was unstinting in the love and attention she gave to her children. Her artistic talent expressed itself quietly in unpublished poetry, paintings, photography, and journals. She knitted and made quilts and, in later years, became an expert weaver, prominent in the Rocky Mountain Weavers' guild. The mountains and wilderness areas of Colorado were her artistic inspiration. She had rejoined the Colorado Mountain Club in 1950 and, over the next twelve years, completed climbs all 54 Colorado "fourteeners."
Charleen worried and felt a bit guilty about leaving her children for weekend climbing trips. They, however, were proud of their mother's achievements and loved watching the slides she brought back. She conveyed, by example, a love and reverence for nature that took root in her children. She was an ardent environmentalist years before "environmentalist" came into parlance. Her life, and the values she embodied, is an enduring gift to those fortunate to know her. We remember and celebrate.
Written by her son, Roger Arnold.
(Editor's Note - All Family Trees were created by Charleen)
Too young to participate in the flapper era of the 1920s, she nonetheless dreamed of an independent life as a poet and artist. Reality bit just after she finished high school, in the form of the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing great depression. Unable to afford college, she took classes when she could and supported herself with a job as a sign painter and display arranger at the S. H. Kress department store in Denver. She lived in a shared apartment and sent most of her wages to help support her parents, younger brother, and sister.
She escaped that hardscrabble life when she married a dashing young civil engineer, Lloyd Arnold, three days after Christmas in 1936. They honeymooned in Mexico and soon moved to the Panama Canal Zone where Lloyd worked on the Madden Dam. Leaving the Canal Zone early in 1941 after Charleen became pregnant, they moved to Royal Oak, Michigan near Lloyd's parents. Daughter Lucinda was born on August 30 of that year. Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. That led to a move to San Francisco where Lloyd worked on coastal defenses.
Toward the end of the war they returned to Michigan where Charleen bore sons Roger (December 18, 1944) and James (September 23, 1946). But in the summer of 1949, after the failure of the "Panelcrete Construction" business that Lloyd had started with a partner, they moved to the Denver area. Charleen loved Colorado and the Rocky Mountains and felt Colorado would be a good place to raise a family. They had no savings after the failure of Lloyd's business, but a local banker loaned them the money to buy a hilltop parcel and build a house in an unincorporated area west of Denver. It was an area of apple orchards, horse pastures, and irrigation ditches at the edge of suburbia -- an ideal backdrop for raising three independent-minded children.
For the romantic spirit that she had been, life as a housewife and mother chafed. Charleen never let that show and was unstinting in the love and attention she gave to her children. Her artistic talent expressed itself quietly in unpublished poetry, paintings, photography, and journals. She knitted and made quilts and, in later years, became an expert weaver, prominent in the Rocky Mountain Weavers' guild. The mountains and wilderness areas of Colorado were her artistic inspiration. She had rejoined the Colorado Mountain Club in 1950 and, over the next twelve years, completed climbs all 54 Colorado "fourteeners."
Charleen worried and felt a bit guilty about leaving her children for weekend climbing trips. They, however, were proud of their mother's achievements and loved watching the slides she brought back. She conveyed, by example, a love and reverence for nature that took root in her children. She was an ardent environmentalist years before "environmentalist" came into parlance. Her life, and the values she embodied, is an enduring gift to those fortunate to know her. We remember and celebrate.
Written by her son, Roger Arnold.
(Editor's Note - All Family Trees were created by Charleen)
Charleen Dale Hanger was born December 3, 1911 in a small farmhouse near the town of Cedar Vale, Kansas. Daughter of a minister in the Church of Christ, she was a tomboy in early years, precocious, romantic, and spirited as a teen. She bridled against the demure "parson's daughter" role expected of her, but mostly confined her rebellion to the pages of secret diaries and surprisingly competent poetry that she wrote. Favorite books were Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels and Frank Baum's Oz books.
Too young to participate in the flapper era of the 1920s, she nonetheless dreamed of an independent life as a poet and artist. Reality bit just after she finished high school, in the form of the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing great depression. Unable to afford college, she took classes when she could and supported herself with a job as a sign painter and display arranger at the S. H. Kress department store in Denver. She lived in a shared apartment and sent most of her wages to help support her parents, younger brother, and sister.
She escaped that hardscrabble life when she married a dashing young civil engineer, Lloyd Arnold, three days after Christmas in 1936. They honeymooned in Mexico and soon moved to the Panama Canal Zone where Lloyd worked on the Madden Dam. Leaving the Canal Zone early in 1941 after Charleen became pregnant, they moved to Royal Oak, Michigan near Lloyd's parents. Daughter Lucinda was born on August 30 of that year. Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. That led to a move to San Francisco where Lloyd worked on coastal defenses.
Toward the end of the war they returned to Michigan where Charleen bore sons Roger (December 18, 1944) and James (September 23, 1946). But in the summer of 1949, after the failure of the "Panelcrete Construction" business that Lloyd had started with a partner, they moved to the Denver area. Charleen loved Colorado and the Rocky Mountains and felt Colorado would be a good place to raise a family. They had no savings after the failure of Lloyd's business, but a local banker loaned them the money to buy a hilltop parcel and build a house in an unincorporated area west of Denver. It was an area of apple orchards, horse pastures, and irrigation ditches at the edge of suburbia -- an ideal backdrop for raising three independent-minded children.
For the romantic spirit that she had been, life as a housewife and mother chafed. Charleen never let that show and was unstinting in the love and attention she gave to her children. Her artistic talent expressed itself quietly in unpublished poetry, paintings, photography, and journals. She knitted and made quilts and, in later years, became an expert weaver, prominent in the Rocky Mountain Weavers' guild. The mountains and wilderness areas of Colorado were her artistic inspiration. She had rejoined the Colorado Mountain Club in 1950 and, over the next twelve years, completed climbs all 54 Colorado "fourteeners."
Charleen worried and felt a bit guilty about leaving her children for weekend climbing trips. They, however, were proud of their mother's achievements and loved watching the slides she brought back. She conveyed, by example, a love and reverence for nature that took root in her children. She was an ardent environmentalist years before "environmentalist" came into parlance. Her life, and the values she embodied, is an enduring gift to those fortunate to know her. We remember and celebrate.
Written by her son, Roger Arnold.
(Editor's Note - All Family Trees were created by Charleen)
Too young to participate in the flapper era of the 1920s, she nonetheless dreamed of an independent life as a poet and artist. Reality bit just after she finished high school, in the form of the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing great depression. Unable to afford college, she took classes when she could and supported herself with a job as a sign painter and display arranger at the S. H. Kress department store in Denver. She lived in a shared apartment and sent most of her wages to help support her parents, younger brother, and sister.
She escaped that hardscrabble life when she married a dashing young civil engineer, Lloyd Arnold, three days after Christmas in 1936. They honeymooned in Mexico and soon moved to the Panama Canal Zone where Lloyd worked on the Madden Dam. Leaving the Canal Zone early in 1941 after Charleen became pregnant, they moved to Royal Oak, Michigan near Lloyd's parents. Daughter Lucinda was born on August 30 of that year. Then came the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. That led to a move to San Francisco where Lloyd worked on coastal defenses.
Toward the end of the war they returned to Michigan where Charleen bore sons Roger (December 18, 1944) and James (September 23, 1946). But in the summer of 1949, after the failure of the "Panelcrete Construction" business that Lloyd had started with a partner, they moved to the Denver area. Charleen loved Colorado and the Rocky Mountains and felt Colorado would be a good place to raise a family. They had no savings after the failure of Lloyd's business, but a local banker loaned them the money to buy a hilltop parcel and build a house in an unincorporated area west of Denver. It was an area of apple orchards, horse pastures, and irrigation ditches at the edge of suburbia -- an ideal backdrop for raising three independent-minded children.
For the romantic spirit that she had been, life as a housewife and mother chafed. Charleen never let that show and was unstinting in the love and attention she gave to her children. Her artistic talent expressed itself quietly in unpublished poetry, paintings, photography, and journals. She knitted and made quilts and, in later years, became an expert weaver, prominent in the Rocky Mountain Weavers' guild. The mountains and wilderness areas of Colorado were her artistic inspiration. She had rejoined the Colorado Mountain Club in 1950 and, over the next twelve years, completed climbs all 54 Colorado "fourteeners."
Charleen worried and felt a bit guilty about leaving her children for weekend climbing trips. They, however, were proud of their mother's achievements and loved watching the slides she brought back. She conveyed, by example, a love and reverence for nature that took root in her children. She was an ardent environmentalist years before "environmentalist" came into parlance. Her life, and the values she embodied, is an enduring gift to those fortunate to know her. We remember and celebrate.
Written by her son, Roger Arnold.
(Editor's Note - All Family Trees were created by Charleen)
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