Joan Acton Hanson, of Tempe, Ariz., and Vashon, died March 9, 2005. She was 68 years old.

Mrs. Hanson was born July 21, 1936, in New York City, and grew up on Long Island in Baldwin, N.Y. After graduating from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Penn., in 1957, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Poitiers, France, from 1957 to 1959. She returned to obtain a master of arts in French from the University of Wisconsin in 1961 and began her career as a high school teacher at Grant High School in Portland, Ore.

There she met and married Roland Hanson in 1962.

After moving to Tempe in 1967, she continued her high school teaching career, then devoted time to raising her children before returning to teaching, and obtaining a master’s of counseling from Arizona State University in 1975.

She was a counselor in the Phoenix High School District until she retired in 1999. Her work as a counselor went beyond her official duties. Students she took under her wing are too numerous to count.

She was an ardent supporter of cultural exchange and helped foreigners and Americans alike learn to appreciate the unique gifts that everyone has to offer. Her unwavering love and support were central to her family.

She was also a friend to many, inspiring all she met with her vitality and energy.

She and her husband purchased property on Vashon in 1988, where they built a second home and an additional community of friends after retirement.

A memorial service was held in Tempe on March 19. A memorial service on Vashon will be held this summer, at a date to be announced later.

Survivors include her husband Roland; sister Nancy; four children, Phyllis, Pamela, Julie and Jeffrey and four grandchildren, Ruth, Heather, Claire and Charles.

Donations in her memory may be made to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-Arizona, 2210 N. 7th St., Phoenix, Ariz