Octavia Pratt Hansen
Jul 15, 1928 -
Aug 4, 2020
Octavia Pratt Hansen - a lifelong Alaskan - passed away peacefully in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 4, 2020, at the age of 92, in the loving care of The Marietta House Assisted Living Home. Prior to her last months, she resided at the Anchorage Pioneers Home for 2 years. We remember her dry sense of humor, brevity and her supportive no-nonsense attitude.
"Taya," as she was known by her close friends, was born into the family of Judge Harry E. Pratt and Helen Baker Pratt, a teacher in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1928. Both Harry E. Pratt and her grandfather, Judge Louis Kassouth Pratt, were Federal District Court Judges throughout the Fairbanks area. Judge Pratt made sure Octavia learned how to fly fish, hunt, shoot a rifle, maintain a vehicle and expected her to have brains and brawn.
After graduating from Fairbanks High School in 1945 in a class of 23, she departed for Stanford University. She said goodbye to her sister Andrea Pratt (West) and her parents. She used to say "Back then I didn't call home or go home. Too expensive and not practical." She graduated from Stanford in 1949 with a BA in education and Spanish. After returning to Alaska, she received a Masters of Education from University of Alaska.
In 1947, during one of the few times she did go home, she met army private Edmund O. Hansen at the Fairbanks USO Club. They married in December 1949. Taya taught school in Fairbanks, Valdez and later, in the Anchorage School District. Octavia had four children: Clayburn, Blair, Dallas and Berkley. Blair died just after birth.
In 1963, the family moved to Anchorage purchasing a new home in College Village. There she was an accomplished athlete and represented Alaska in badminton at The Arctic Winter Games multiple times.
Times changed and they divorced in 1976. That same year her oldest son Clay died in a trucking accident outside of Fairbanks.
Octavia served as the South Central Election Supervisor for the State of Alaska for many terms. That work entailed traveling to many remote villages in the state.
Often, after a long trail ride on her horse Fader, a four-wheeling trip up to glaciers, a snowmachine trip or a rigorous portage canoe trip, she loved sipping scotch or instant coffee around at a campfire followed up by a game of pinochle with her buddies.
Many have enjoyed the trails she cleared all over the Anchorage Hillside. She forded bogs, deep snow, creeks and hunted caribou and moose. Her road trips throughout Alaska and the Lower 48 were extensive and often with her best friend Patricia Abney. She traveled abroad to Australia, Europe, Africa and Central America. She liked to travel but she loved Alaska.
She will be deeply missed by her family: daughter, Dallas Lane Hansen and her spouse Theodore Cooper of Oregon; son, Berkley Pratt Hansen of San Francisco, Calif., and his son, Bryce Hansen; nephew, Taylor and his wife Susan West of Anchorage; niece Holly West of Honolulu, Hawaii; and nephew, Brad West.
A very special thanks is extended to the Marietta House and to Providence Hospice Care. Due to COVID-19, Octavia's children were not able to see her or be with her but her dear friends were. Thank you Pinochle Ladies, thank you Johnny McGrew. Heartfelt thanks to Patricia Abney of Anchorage who traveled thousands of miles with Octavia and held her hand to the end.
