By Eilene Lyon
Evelyn Ethel (Halse) Hansen (1913–1981)
Evelyn was the eighth-born child of Mabel Cutting and Guy Halse. According to my great-aunt, she was the “black sheep” of the family who avoided family reunions. However, she was known to visit cousins in South Dakota.
Unlike some of her siblings, Evelyn did complete high school in Florence, South Dakota. After graduating, she became a librarian for the school.
Though I have not found a record, she appears to have married James Richard Hansen about 1939, probably in Oregon, and they had four children together. In the 1940s, Jim worked as a logger, loading trucks in Lincoln County on the Pacific coast.
Evelyn’s family moved to Eugene by 1947 and remained there. Jim was a truck driver for a time, but unemployed by 1950. Evelyn passed away in 1981 at age 67.
Myricopia 
We wonder about the black sheep and their reasons (which may be valid). Any record of her kids?
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Not everyone relishes growing up in a big family! I know a little about her children.
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Evelyn and her black sheep nature sound quite relatable to me. Family reunions are hard for me because I feel like I don’t know these people well enough to belong and meaningful conversations in large groups are hard. That’s a product of being such an introvert – small talk is painful. But I do have some cousins and some aunts and uncles that I keep up with in real life.
Oh, to step back in time and get to ask!
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I wasn’t even able to find this couple in the newspapers, which is unusual. Very low profile people.
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Hmmm. Good for them, I guess! Lol.
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I suppose!
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How interesting that she was deemed less than because she avoided family encounters. Lots of things could be read into by her choices (since we don’t know why) and also the comments from family on her “status”. Families seem to often be the most judgey groups, only made worse because those being judged then choose to avoid them 😉 I am envious of her home in OR. I wonder if it is still there?
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I don’t believe it is. I looked on Google Earth at the addresses I had for them and didn’t find it. However I didn’t dig into real estate records. I do agree about family judgments. I wish I had additional perspectives. I strive to keep these posts to 150 words and for once I struggled to find that many!
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I wonder if completing her education had something to do with the “black sheep labelling”.
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Hmm. That’s a thought. I know my grandfather believe his college education led to abusive comments by his older brothers. That may have just been his perception or maybe true. I don’t know.
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Sadly, it’s not that uncommon.
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I expect so.
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Doesn’t matter what we do, we end up with labels. Black sheep because she chose to go her own way. We have a few in our family 😉
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Yeah, some people have good reasons for breaking away. I don’t know that I always think of “black sheep” as a pejorative.
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No, I agree with you. I don’t think it is. Especially when it is a choice to be different 😉
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I feel like I ought to dig a little deeper for her story.
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If the feeling is strong enough, you will 😉
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Yeah. This was a little rushed, I admit.
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Only you think so!
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Seriously, it was!
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😊
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Her photo reminds me of girls in more modern days – almost as if she was born in the wrong era.
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She looks a lot like I did at that age, I’ve always thought.
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Interesting.
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I like Evelyn’s house. Wouldn’t mind living in one like it today.
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My great aunt says that Jim never finished it. He may have been a difficult person, a drinker.
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i agree with Ally, I like the look of the house.
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I’ve always liked that Craftman style, too. My great-uncle built a spacious, beautiful one in Moscow, Idaho. The interior woodwork is amazing.
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Intriguing comment about Evelyn’s black sheep status. I wonder if she was considered the black sheep just because she didn’t attend family reunions.
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I should have probed a little harder on that. I think I’ll ask one of my dad’s cousins about it.
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I’ll look forward to what you find out!
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Maybe a real story will emerge!
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Fingers crossed!
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Thanks!
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You’re welcome!
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Struggling to see what makes her a black sheep, especially as she was a librarian. Surely the height of respectability!
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It’s something that requires a bit more investigation on my part!
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it sure doesn’t seem like she did anything awful to deserve the label of black sheep.
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I honestly don’t know. It was one person’s opinion. It isn’t necessarily a negative remark.
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Why was she called black sheep? Being a librarian, mother and wife is nothing to sneeze at.
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I really don’t know. Just probably for distancing herself from the family.
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Maybe Evelyn was just shy, thus she avoided family reunions, or, who knows – perhaps she thought her potato salad recipe wouldn’t pass muster with the others. I wonder why her relatives disparaged her by calling her the “black sheep” … people were judgy even then!
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That could all be true. I don’t consider “black sheep” to be a necessarily disparaging remark. It can just mean “different than the rest.”
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That is true as well Eilene. I was looking at it a different way, meaning a negative connotation.
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Well, I do need to do a bit more digging on this one. Had little to go on.
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I think that must have been such an unbelievable culture shock/journey. From growing up and coming of age in the ’20’s to living in the age of space travel. My goodness.
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We like to think we’ve seen big changes in our lifetimes, but I point to my grandparent and their grandparents who I’d argue saw much more revolutionary changes than us.
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I agree.
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Trying to figure out what she did to be labelled as a black sheep! Hope she found some happiness…
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Me too! I am going to examine this further. I can think of a few people who might be able to help.
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I knew Evelyn because she was my grandmother. A very wonderful loving woman who absolutely adored her children and grandchildren. The house pictured is not the house I remember at all. However the house all of us would go to visit her and our grandfather Jim is still there on Kinney Loop in Eugene, OR. So here’s a story. When she was young she had a horse named peanut. She was out riding the horse one day until it threw her off. So she shot it. I guess you could say she had a little temper when warranted. And yes, we still have the hide to that horse.
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Hi Aaron! Thanks so much for getting in touch. There are so many Halse descendants I have never met. I’m trying to make sure that there is at least some remembrance in my pages for those who have gone before. I appreciate you sharing what you know about the homes. I did try to find the Kinney place on Google Street View, but I think house numbers have changed. That’s quite a tale about Peanut!
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Yes, Numbers did change. That address is now 3290 Kinney Loop. House is still there and looks much nicer now. The Oak tree in the back is one my Uncle Ed planted when he was little. Jim (Grandpa hated that tree because of all the leaves that would fall in the winter. Still makes me laugh. Off to the side of the house now on the other lot in the back I remember him planting those trees. There’s a bald spot there between the trees because of me and my cousin riding thru them with our mini bikes. It killed one of the trees. My God he was so mad. Another good laugh. And judging from all the stories I’ve been told about her and her siblings, they were all black sheep. LOL…
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I’ll check out the map. I did not have the opportunity to meet the Halse siblings – my grandfather, Everett, died 6 months before I was born. When I was very young we did visit Charlotte Frydendall on the Oregon coast. My dad has never told me anything about his aunts and uncles or cousins. I don’t think he knew them very well.
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