Honore' Louise Hacanson

Honoré Louise Hacanson was born Honoré Tilner to parents Nettie (Fitzgerald) Tilner and Harold Otto Tilner in Seattle, Washington on December 13, 1927. She was named for her mother’s favorite author who wrote for Good Housekeeping Magazine, Honoré Wilsey Morrow.

Honoré lived in Seattle with her parents and younger brother until 1942 when the family moved to Puyallup, Washington. Honoré was age 14 and enrolled in Puyallup High School. Following her high school graduation, she moved to Pullman and attended Washington State University for 2 years, majoring in Home Economics with a minor in Horticulture. Honoré was a Washington resident throughout her life, passing away on June 14, 2025 in Longview.

Honoré married her high school sweetheart, Roy Gordon Hacanson, on February 7, 1948 after he returned from service in the U.S. Army during World War II. The couple made their home in Puyallup and had three daughters, each of whom Honoré named for queens: Catherine Dee (Hacanson) Herring, Victoria Louise (Hacanson) Morris, and Elizabeth Ann (Hacanson) Gould. The family was fortunate to have both sets of grandparents also living in Puyallup and had frequent Sunday dinners together. The girls, all looking for men the caliber of their father, had a total of five weddings and four divorces. Only Cathy was still married at the time of her own passing in January 2022. Cathy provided Honoré with two granddaughters and continued the family tradition of naming the girls for queens: Ann Hope (Doud) Hernandez born September 6, 1977, and Mary Louise Doud born July 17, 1979. Ann and her husband DeWayne provided Honoré’s one great grandchild, Alexander Ceasar Hernandez, born April 24, 2001.

Honoré was a full-time wife and mother while raising her daughters in Puyallup. She and Roy shared an interest and hobby in rhododendron horticulture, attended Pacific Rhododendron Society meetings in Tacoma, and started a small rhododendron nursery of their own – the Rhododendron Specialty House − on their property at 703 10th Street SE. Honoré ran the nursery while the girls were at school and while Roy worked for Pacific Northwest Bell telephone company. The family worked in the nursery together on weekends and during the busy sales season of April−May. They participated in creating landscape displays at rhododendron shows in and around Tacoma in the 1960s. These led to Honoré providing landscape design services for rhododendron garden customers and others.

Honoré volunteered at the Rhododendron Species Foundation (RSF) for 44 years, both in the office and in the garden. She and Roy were part of the group of volunteers who, in 1964, planted the original 6,000 species of rhododendrons donated from a private collection in Salem, Oregon to the 24-acre RSF garden on the Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters campus in Federal Way, Washington. Honoré worked as the RSF bookkeeper for several years, served on the Board of Directors for 7 years, and as President of the Board for 3 years.

When the SR 512 Freeway was built from SR 167 south through Puyallup, a portion of Roy and Honoré’s property was taken by the State to construct an offramp at 7th Avenue SE. The house was relocated to the field that had been the rhododendron growing area, and the Rhododendron Specialty House closed. The family had a new home built on the North Hill of Puyallup in 1970 and moved 385 rhododendrons (most large specimen plants) to the 5-acre wooded hillside, integrated into the coniferous/deciduous forest that is their native habitat. Offices were created in the daylight basement rooms of the house for use by Honoré and her staff as she became increasingly active working for and serving rhododendron and nurserymen’s associations. Her accomplishments included:

• Washington State Nurserymen’s Association secretary/treasurer (1968-1981).
• Executive Director of the Washington State Nurserymen’s Association.
• American Association of Nurserymen, elected Nursery Association Executives secretary.
• Manager of an umbrella organization that provided administrative services to three additional nursery association groups in the Puyallup area.
• Washington Certified Nurseryman.
• Honorary member of Future Farmers of America for her work with Washington state community colleges in the field of horticulture and landscaping.
• Recipient of the 1996 Pioneer Award from the Washington State Nursery and Landscape Association. This award honors people from past roles in the association for their efforts and accomplishments that laid the groundwork for the organization as it exists today.

Roy was an avid sports fisherman and loved to fish the Kalama and Toutle Rivers in southwest Washington for steelhead trout, Chinook (king) and Coho (silver) salmon. The couple spent 26 summers in a travel trailer at the Kalama River Campground in order to be close to the sport. When the last of their parents passed away in Puyallup in 1995, the couple moved to Longview, Washington, 10 miles north of the campground. Honoré had attended Longview Community Church during summers in Kalama and made many friends in the community, so it was a welcome transition for their retirement years. They bought a home on Oak Street near the Mint Valley golf course west of town. Honoré landscaped the lot beautifully with rhododendrons, azaleas, and a yellow magnolia tree that is still stunning in the neighborhood today. As a church member, Honoré:

• Sang in the choir.
• Played in the bell choir.
• Participated in Lydia Circle and the Women’s Bible Study.
• Participated for several years in the Pastor’s Bible Study with Dr. John Willliams.
• Served on the Board of Directors (including serving one year as the President of the Board).
• Served as President of the Trustees (one year).
• Served as a volunteer in FISH, a food bank program to distribute food to local families in need.
• Helped the church maintenance man with landscaping that included several rhododendrons.

Roy passed away on October 24, 2004. Honoré stayed in the house on Oak Street for 3 years, deciding to move in the year of her 80th birthday to the Longview independent living facility, Canterbury Park. She had a lovely apartment on the garden court there for 14 years, maintaining colorful flowerpots on her patio and inserting a few of her own touches in the adjacent garden. She loved sitting out on her patio on sunny afternoons, greeting people as they walked through the courtyard. By age 94, Honoré felt ready to move across the street to Canterbury Inn for the availability of assisted living services when needed. The family moved her in August 2022 to a one-bedroom apartment with a sunny south exposure where she re-established her outdoor seating area with beautiful flowerpots, fed the squirrels and hummingbirds, and enjoyed cooing doves in the Bradford pear tree in the Hudson Street-side parking lot.

Honoré took a fall in her room on March 10, 2025. She was diagnosed at Peace Health St. John’s Hospital with atrial fibrillation, a condition that caused her to be light-headed at times. As a condition of her discharge from the hospital, the Emergency Room doctors required that she be provided with 24-hour care. Canterbury Inn was able to offer a studio apartment on the 3rd Avenue side of the building, close to the nurses’ station. The family moved her to this room in mid-March where she lived until her passing on June 14, 2025. Honoré had two more trips to the Emergency Room (April 28th and May 31st) with an eventual diagnosis of congestive heart failure. When she returned to her Canterbury Inn apartment on June 4th, she was admitted to Peace Health Hospice in-home care with comfort as her priority.

Vicki, Beth, and Mary were frequent visitors and caregivers for their Mom/Grandma during her final months in residence at Canterbury Inn. It was a joy and an honor to spend this time with her, and we miss her dearly.