Wittenberg Community Service Award

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of articles profiling winners of the Celebration of Giving awards presented annually by Shawano Area Community Foundation Inc. for outstanding volunteerism. The winners will be honored at a gala Tuesday.

Hometown pride led Dr. Susan Hanson back to Wittenberg 10 years ago after spending more than 40 years as a practicing psychiatrist in upstate New York.

Hanson, who lives in the home her parents built, has spent much of the last decade helping local civic organizations make Wittenberg a source of pride for others, as well.

The Shawano Area Community Foundation recognized her efforts by selecting Hanson as the recipient of the 2015 Wittenberg Community Service Award.

“I wanted to come back to where I grew up,” Hanson said. “I am living in what has been a part of my family for 66 years.”

She was nominated for the award by Miriam Nelson and Elaine Diffor.

Both women knew Hanson’s community roots run deep.

“One of her fondest childhood memories is her first job helping her mom and dad maintaining the beauty of the Forest Home Cemetery,” Nelson said. “With clippers in hand, she clipped around the tombstones, saw her first Indigo bunting and created many happy memories with her parents by honoring those who had passed.”

“She has focused her time and energy on organizations that promote cultural and artistic enhancement, historical preservation and economic development of the Wittenberg area,” Nelson said.

Hanson, 78, was among the first members of Walls of Wittenberg in 2005, a nonprofit organization working to revitalize downtown Wittenberg. She played an integral role in bringing free art shows, theater productions and other events to the community, and she worked with artists creating murals for Wittenberg as a member of the artist committee.

“WOW gave me the ability to create and pull off four art shows a year and expand on it, which is what I am most proud of,” Hanson said.

Additionally, she has given her time and skills as a gardener to the Wittenberg Community Center, where she has improved the landscape and created a vibrant entrance.

She picked up where her mother left off, maintaining the garden at the family home.

“I enjoy gardening and love working in the same garden that my mother built more than 50 years ago,” Hanson said.

Hanson also worked with the local historical society, served on the village’s plan commission and as a board member of the Wittenberg Area Development Corporation.

Hanson will donate her $1,000 award to the Wittenberg Historical Society “because our furnace needs to be repaired,” she said.

Hanson remains optimistic about the economic future of Wittenberg.

“It is the challenge of attracting businesses that are viable to the community that can bring in money,” said Hanson. “But we are on a growth pattern.”

She pointed to Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats, the award’s sponsor, as a business that has gained more exposure within the last decade.

“Nueske’s has grown from a hometown business to a nationally known business,” Hanson said.