As an advocate for the arts in Shawano County and the Shawano Area Community Foundation, Dr. Susan Hanson was an unstoppable force. Even her passing in 2015 didn’t stop her from contributing to her causes.

After becoming the first woman graduate of Wittenberg High School to attend medical school, she served as director of the Monroe County Psychiatric Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., and later at the Genesee Mental Health Center there. She retired from private practice and came back to her family home in Wittenberg.

She was a leader in the Walls of Wittenberg (WOW) arts group, which dressed up the little Shawano County village with colorful murals and maintains a downtown Art Park  and a gallery called WOWSPACE. She had convinced the WOW board to create an endowment fund at the SACF  to cover ongoing maintenance costs.

Upon her death at age 77, the Walls of Wittenberg Fund received a bequest from Susan’s estate. Her gift will help keep the WOW factor for visitors to Wittenberg.

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