Sylvia Alice Hanna

Sylvia Alice Hanna, age 91, passed away peacefully on April 28, 2025, at Angela Hospice Home in Livonia, Michigan.

Sylvia, the daughter of Hector and Aurora (Parent) Bourque, was born on August 25, 1933 in Ottawa, Canada the fifth of six children. She spent her early childhood in Ottawa, until the family moved to Montreal, and then to Detroit following WWII, when Sylvia was fifteen years old. She learned English, sprinkled it with a bit of French and a bit of an accent.

She met her future husband, Ernst ‘Ernie’ Hanna, in her early twenties through a mutual friend in Detroit. When Ernie was called to serve in the Korean War, the two kept close by exchanging love letters throughout his tour. While Ernie was away, Sylvia kept busy with various jobs including as an elevator operator in the Penobscot Building in Detroit, and on an assembly line at the BetterMade Potato Chip Company. When Ernie returned, the two were married in a small ceremony in 1954.

While Ernie worked his way up in the Ford Motor Company, Sylvia raised their three children and studied art, a gift she cultivated throughout her life.  She began oil painting classes in 1964, where she met many of her lifelong friends. She studied sculpture at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, eventually teaching small classes herself. Her art can still be found in the living rooms and kitchens of her family, friends, and collectors. Her contribution to a collective mural project sponsored by Ella Sharp Museum can still be seen in downtown Jackson, Michigan. There were few limits to Sylvia’s creativity, as she was an accomplished seamstress, creating many beautiful pieces for her family. Sylvia was also a consummate hostess, happiest when her family and many kind and talented friends filled her house with their conversations, surrounded by her beautiful food, as songbook classics played in the background. Sylvia and Ernie loved each other, and loved to travel, see the world with their friends, bring back unique treasures, inspire their family to do the same, to live life and never slow down.

Sylvia is survived by her daughter, Michelle Scott, and her son, Mark (Michelle) Hanna, Michelle Scott’s children: Christine (Craig) Urwin, and their son Gilles; Ryan (Coco) Koch and their son Ernest; Christine (Jamie) White and their children, Hailey, Derrick, Alex, and Cameron; and Stephanie Scott; and Mark Hanna’s children: Stephanie Hanna, Jenine (Adam) Mosseri and their daughter Violet; James (Nichole) Gleason; and Kenneth (Andrea) Gleason and their children Reagan and Abel . Sylvia is also survived by her Bengal cat, Lulu, who has been relocated to Maine to live with Sylvia’s granddaughter Christine’s family.

Sylvia was preceded in death by her five siblings; her beloved husband of 54 years, Ernie; her son, Edward Hanna; and her son-in-law, Dr. Garland Scott, Jr.

She lived a life that inspired, supported and brought joy to the people that loved her and will be remembered and cherished for all that she gave.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary Catholic Church in Chelsea, with the V. Rev. Dr. William J. Canon Turner officiating. The family will receive friends at the church beginning at 10:00 a.m., prior to the service. Interment will follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Chelsea.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Midcoast Humane Society in Brunswick, Maine and Angela Hospice in Livonia, Michigan. Arrangements by Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home, Chelsea.