As a young girl growing up on 13th Street in Windom, Minnesota, Ellen Irene Hanson was happiest when she could spend time helping her mother and aunts with their many social events, watching her father work in his small insurance office, or summering on Fish Lake with her older brother and sister. Over her lifetime she hosted many social events herself, cooked thousands of delicious meals, and managed households, clubs and charities, all with her own innate abilities and with skills derived from her familial interactions as she grew up. After more than ninety-five years of living fully, Ellen Irene Hanson Tyler died peacefully at home in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on October 31, 2020. She was born in Windom on April 23, 1925, the youngest child of Mary Margaret Ashby Hanson and Clarence Melvin Hanson. Her older siblings - brother Eugene Hanson and sister Mary Jane Hanson Redding - preceded her in death. Ellen graduated from Windom High School in 1942 and attended Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin and the Abbott School, School of Nursing, in Minneapolis. She received her R.N. in 1947 and worked at Abbot Hospital. Later in 1947 Ellen married Wayne Tyler and the couple began married life in Evanston, Illinois. Wayne worked for the company then known as Standard Oil of Indiana (later becoming Amoco) and Ellen worked with infant nurse students at The Cradle, later moving to Evanston Hospital and then becoming the office nurse for a private physician in Winnetka, Illinois. Wayne was transferred to Mason City, Iowa in 1950, where Ellen did private duty nursing at Mercy Hospital. The couple started a family in 1951 when their first child, Thomas, was born. Jane followed in 1953 and Timothy, who died in infancy, was born in 1954. Wayne was transferred to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1957, and then to St. Louis, Missouri in 1958. His final job transfer came in 1961, to Chicago, and it was to suburban Deerfield, Illinois, where Ellen, Wayne and family moved and remained until after Wayne's death in 1991. Wayne's job required frequent travel. Ellen continued working as a nurse while also raising her children, ending up running the office for a trio of physicians in Highland Park, Illinois. Always active in her community and highly valued for her common sense and clear thinking, in later years Ellen served as PTA president at her children's junior high school, president of the Deerfield Women's Club, and administered various other organizations. For 25 years she volunteered at the Highland Park Hospital, the last four of those years as chairman of the hospital's gift shop, and was also its jewelry buyer for nine years. The Episcopal Church was important to Ellen and she and her family were regular attendees of Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, St. Luke's Church in Evanston, and St. Gregory's Church in Deerfield. Ellen was Choir Mother at both the Cathedral and St. Luke's, where Thomas sang in the choirs, and she served on the Altar Guild at all of her churches. After Wayne's retirement in 1987 he and Ellen traveled widely, starting with what was then the Soviet Union and including China, Egypt, Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska and even the South Pole. Three years after Wayne's death Ellen married Orla Brammeier, whose wife Lorraine had died four months before Wayne. Orla had known Wayne when they were both in the Navy V12 program during World War II. After the war Orla worked in Chicago and raised his family in a town neighboring Wayne and Ellen's. Through the years the two couples socialized on occasion and gathered along with other V12 members for an annual reunion in Door County, Wisconsin. In 1996 Ellen and Orla moved to a beautiful newly built home in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where they both happily lived the rest of their lives. They took many ocean cruises and also enjoyed visiting and being visited by their children and grandchildren. Ellen's idea of a good time was working in her extraordinary garden where she grew roses, peonies, petunias and many other flowers, along with tomatoes, parsley and pretty much anything that could be raised in Illinois. Later, in Florida, she enjoyed tending to a multitude of colorful tropical trees, bushes and flowers. Ellen was to the end always gracious, perceptive and wise, traits that endeared her to all of her caregivers in her last years. After Orla's death in 2018 Tracey Henderson became part of Ellen's family as Ellen's primary caregiver. Tracey's loyal work and friendship brought Ellen and her family great comfort. Earlier this year Ellen's caring team expanded to include Cyntiche Darling, Patricia Jones and Amanda Torres. The family is extremely grateful to all of them for loving Ellen, as it is to Ellen's kind and helpful neighbors, Pete and Darlene. Ellen's medical needs were diligently attended to by her doctor, Ira Pearlstine and his nurse practitioner, Patricia Guzman. Ellen was incredibly fortunate to have been looked after by such able and compassionate professionals. Ellen is survived by her children Thomas Tyler of New York, NY, and Jane Tyler of Forest Lake MN; by her grandchildren Benjamin Knaak of Forest Lake MN, Andrew Knaak of Rice Lake WI, Joseph Knaak of Washington DC, Paul Knaak of Eden Prairie MN and Mary Knaak of Los Alamos NM; and by her niece, Gene Clark, of Windom MN.