OLD LYME—Hildegarde Kate Hannum, née Drexl, died peacefully at home on Christmas Eve. Born in 1931 in Springfield, Massachusetts, she was the only child of Karl and Kate Vogeler Drexl, both born in Germany. She graduated from Classical High School in Springfield in 1949 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Connecticut College in 1953, and then spent a year at the University of Munich, Germany, as a Fulbright scholar (one of her fondest memories). In 1955 she received her M.A. in German from Middlebury College. She was then a Teaching Fellow as a graduate student at Harvard University from 1957 to 1959. It was at Harvard that she met her husband of sixty-one years, Hunter Grubb Hannum, who predeceased her. They married in 1959 and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where their only daughter Lisa was born.
After completing a dissertation on Thomas Mann, she received her Ph.D. in German Studies from Harvard in 1968. She taught at Hayward State University and the University of California, Berkeley. The family moved to Old Lyme in 1973 and she then taught for a few years at Connecticut College. In the mid-1970’s she and her husband began a career as freelance literary translators from German to English. In 1986 they were awarded the Lewis Galantière Award from the American Translators Association for their translations of two books by the psychoanalyst Alice Miller.
In 1968 she became a trustee of her husband’s family foundation which she remained devoted to until his death in 2020; their lifelong compassion for humanity and commitment to social justice touched the lives of many. From 1973 to 1985 she was very active with the American Friends Service Committee, and she served as a board member of the E.F. Schumacher Society, an organization promoting local economic revitalization and environmental sustainability, for decades. In that capacity she edited their annual lectures and People, Land, and Community: The Collected E.F. Schumacher Society Lectures. In 1997 she co-founded the Energy Options Study Group, a citizens group promoting the use of renewable energy resources combined with energy efficiency.
She was at her happiest hiking and climbing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains (which she did every summer into her 70’s), reading, or spending time with friends and family.
She leaves her daughter Lisa Kate Holmes and her partner Robert Stern of Hadlyme, two dear grandchildren; Hunter Holmes and his wife Anna, and Amelia and her husband Daniel Wood; and one great-granddaughter, Fiona.
In lieu of flowers, it is requested that donations be in her name to The Martha and Hunter Grubb Foundation, PO Box 190, Old Lyme, CT 06371. The family would like to express their heartfelt appreciation to Katherine Clark-Nilsson, Virginija Babiliute, Sibiya Sibahle and Rashmi Childress for their loving care; it was because of their dedication that she could remain comfortably at home with her beloved dachshund, Richie.
To sign the online guest book visit www.fultontherouxoldlyme.com.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
