WILLMAR -- Muriel Joy Hanson, 91, of Willmar, died Monday afternoon at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.
The service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church in Willmar. Interment will at 10 a.m. Aug. 16 in the Fairview Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar and for one hour prior to the service at the church. Memorials are preferred to the music fund at the United Methodist Church.
She was born May 30, 1917, in Elma, Iowa, to Fred and Anna (Kensinger) Jones. They moved to Hampton, Iowa, and in 1923 moved to St. Paul, where she grew up, graduating from John Marshall High School in Minneapolis in 1937. She received her bachelor's degree in 1941 and her masters of music degree in 1942 from the University of Minnesota. She was an instructor of piano and theory at the University of Minnesota. She married Willard J. Hanson on Oct. 20, 1945, and they lived in Willmar. She was the community accompanist for four presentations of the "Messiah" and the Faure "Requiem," and accompanied the Willmar Boys Chorus for six years. She was an active member of the Willmar United Methodist Church and was director of music, organist, and director of the Bishop's Choir at United Methodist Church for 14 years. Muriel also set up and directed music studies and programs for a rural school for two years and was a private piano teacher for more than 21 years.
She did musical reviews for the West Central Tribune for five years. She was a member of West Central Concert Series Board for 10 years, the Music Teachers' National Association, the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, the Willmar Musicale, Chapter BI of the PEO Sisterhood, a charter member of the Athenian Study Club and a past member of the West Central Keyboard Club.
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She is survived by her children: Gregg (and Linda) Hanson of Spicer, Deborah McMurray of Dallas; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband in 1992, one brother and one sister.
She was preceded in death by one sister.
