ISLAND ICON: HELEN HANSEN By Peggy Eddy, Coronado Historical Association Volunteer & CHA Staff
The monthly column, Island Icons, of historical vignettes from the Coronado Historical Association features insights and personal memories of locals. An initiative of CHA and its community volunteers, it is the product of a special archival oral history project that records the local personal histories that may be lost in the near future. This month’s Island Icon is Helen Hansen who passed away in 2014. Two of her four sons, Dr. David Hansen and Allen Hansen kindly offered background information, memories, and highlights of her amazing life. Treasured wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, musician, nurse, aunt, athlete, church member, friend, and community stalwart are all terms that aptly apply to Helen Hansen. This remarkable woman was born July 9, 1915, in Glyndon, Maryland and raised in Port Washington, Long Island. A piano virtuoso, Helen declined a prestigious piano scholarship to The Julliard School, opting instead to obtain her nursing degree at St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. In 1939, Helen took a leave of absence as head nurse at St. Jude’s to help her only sibling, Margaret “Margie” Probasco. Margie lived in Coronado and was expecting her first child while her husband, Jack, was deployed. Helen fell in love with Coronado where “the sweet peas were blooming, it was warm, and the people were very friendly.” Helen liked the island so much, she stayed. She became a nurse for Dr. William Booth through
Helen Hansen water skiing off Scripps Pier, 1940. Courtesy of the Hansen Family whom she met her future husband, Leo Hansen, a respected Coronado banker, president of the Bachelor’s Club, and, according to Helen, “the cutest man in Coronado.” The Hansens were married in September of 1940 and enjoyed 64 years together until Leo’s passing in 2004. During World War II, while Leo served in the Navy, Helen and her children temporarily moved east. They returned to Coronado after the war and in 1950, Helen and Leo bought the “Hansen House” at 711 A Avenue. The three-story Tudor-style home of 14,000 square feet had ten bedrooms and thirteen bathrooms. Sons Leo Jr., David, Allen, and Mark enjoyed living in the huge house with a spacious backyard that provided ample space for play and for community groups to gather.
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At one point, the dining room held a pool table with hand-painted French wallpaper as a backdrop. Later, a friend asked Helen to store a large dining room set until he could find a buyer for it. Five years later, as no buyer had appeared, he told Helen to keep the set. The family and friends gathered at that table for Helen’s delicious meals including her famous “money cake” which she made for each birthday celebration. At the Hansen house, there was always an extra place set for an unexpected guest. (When the house was sold in 2017 the dining set remained with the house.) In 1948, following the death of her sister and brother-in-law, Helen became the guardian of the three Probasco children, Preston, John, and Peggy. Eventually, Helen moved them into the Hansen’s home. Along with
