Rosemary Hansen has been named Republican of the Year.

The honor was presented to her at her home by a group of fellow Republican Club members. Hansen has served as precinct captain for LD23 and volunteers for many Republican candidates. She has served nine years on the club’s board, holding a number of positions. As president of the club, she addressed and solved many thorny issues with diplomacy and discipline.

Hansen is first generation U.S. citizen born of German and Austrian parents who settled, along with her older brother in a Wisconsin community with a total of 40 residents.

Hansen said living the American dream was a goal, and her parents made sure their children had may opportunities.

Always active academically, physically and in the fine art of music, Hansen also was quarterback of her grade school football team, member of the American Legion Drum and Bugle Corps that traveled to take top honors in larger towns. She also played a number of instruments.

Her upbringing emphasized hard work and thriftiness. She and her brother picked green beans all summer for 3 cents a pound, earning about $100 for the season. Her father took a job out of town and returned home each weekend with books. Her mother saw to it that the children had the latest and best newspapers to read.

Needing funds for her brother’s college, Hansen and her mother ran a 24-hour grocery store. Hansen also tended bar at her grandparents’ resort starting at age eight.

Always quickly moving up in the companies she worked for, she held leadership positions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Tennessee. As president of the League of Women’s Voters in Tennessee, she arranged and hosted TV debates between candidates.