Joan Crawford (Whisenhunt) Hanson

Joan Crawford (Whisenhunt) Hanson joined her parents, Ira Burilla (I.B.) Crawford and Ruby L. Odom in their heavenly home on May 29, 2015. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee on January 30, 1931, moved to Little Rock as a baby, then to Park Hill in North Little Rock when she was five. She began school at Park Hill Elementary at age five, then to Fourth Street Junior High and then to very crowded Ole Main as a ninth grader. Joan always stood out due to her personality; she was upbeat and friendly with everyone in the school. In her junior year, she was elected Band Queen, a Football Maid and a Cheerleader. In her senior year, she was elected again to the Cheerleader Squad and as the Football Queen. She held a number of other offices during her time in high school and graduated with her class in the spring of 1948. Joan and some of her close friends enrolled in Texas Christian University (TCU) in Denton, Texas, where she met Garland B. Whisenhunt, a Texas A&M student, at a dance. The relationship blossomed and after Garland graduated, they were married. He was employed in the private sector for a short time prior to the eruption of the Korean War. He was then called into service and sent to Germany. Joan was able to join him and spent two years there. She learned to speak German and traveled Europe, where she always said that she "grew up." Joan was actively involved with and proud of her community and charitable service with the local women's organizations both in the Dallas and North Little Rock areas, and at one time, served as the President of each organization. She was equally proud of her work with the Republican Political Organizations she was associated with and held offices in both locations. Through Garland's position, Joan met a number of and had dinner from time to time with those involved in the space program, including Wernher von Braun and others of his stature. During this period they were living in Highland Park (Dallas, Texas) and Joan was successfully selling real estate while they raised their three sons, John, Mark and James. Garland retired from Lockheed-Martin in 1994 and expired in 1996. In the spring of 1998, the Ole Main Class of 1948 held their 50th Class Reunion in North Little Rock and published a biographical book of those attending. Attendance was pretty good and the book was good, but about half of A.J. Hanson's bio was left out. At the reunion, he and Joan met and talked a little as they did with all the others, but nothing big. He returned to Oklahoma and she to Dallas. After he returned home, he copied what was left out of the book and mailed it to all on the mailing list. He received a number of thank you notes; however, the one he received from Joan asked that, when he was in Dallas, to call her since the bio had stated that he would be traveling there often. So, during his next trip, which was in July, he called and they went to dinner, which was very enjoyable. The relationship developed and they were married on December 27, 1998. In 2000, they moved back home to North Little Rock and enjoyed a little over 15 wonderful years together, traveling the U.S. extensively, spending a month in a motor home in Alaska, sailed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary to England, through the Chunnel to Paris, the time in Europe, Canada and Hawaii, and loved every minute of it. Joan is survived by her husband, A. J. Hanson; sons, Steve Hanson (Deanna), David Hanson, John Whisenhunt (Anna), Mark Whisenhunt, and James Whisenhunt; daughter, Patty Blackmon; two grandchildren, Rebecca and Sarah; and four great-grandchildren. Services will be held on Thursday, June 4 at 11:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church, officiated by Rev. Davis Thompson, followed by interment at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church, 6701 JFK Blvd., North Little Rock, Ark. 72116 or to Arkansas Children's Hospital, 1 Children's Way, Little Rock, Ark. 72202. Arrangements by Little Rock Funeral Home, (501)224-2200. Joan's online guestbook may be signed at www.littlerockfuneralhome.com.