Hanson & Dahl Family History
Our mission is to assist families in creating personalized funeral experiences that honor the lives of their loved ones. In 1913, John C. Hanson moved to Dawson, and the following year, he began his business career by forming a partnership with L.A. Ward to engage in the furniture business and funeral service. In 1915, Robert Dahl purchased Mr. Ward’s interest in the partnership. In 1950, the corporation of Hanson & Dahl Furniture Company, Inc. was formed.
The second generation of the Hanson family, Glenn Hanson, joined the firm in 1943, and after World War II, Russell Dahl, Robert Dahl's son, returned to the University, where he completed a degree in Business Administration. For a year, he worked for Phillips Petroleum in accounting before returning to the University to study Mortuary Science. On August 21, 1948, he was united in marriage to Betty M. Schad in Stillwater, MN, and in 1949, they moved to Dawson, where he joined his dad and the Hanson family in the family business of Hanson & Dahl Furniture Co, Inc. Both John, on December 17, 1957, and Robert, on October 13, 1967, died suddenly of heart attacks. For many years, Glenn and Russ, with the help of long-time employee Rueben Christianson, operated furniture stores, provided funeral service, and ran the local ambulance service. Over the years, the furniture store and ambulance portions were diminished, and after Glenn died in 1972, the Dahl family purchased the Hanson stock and formed Hanson & Dahl Funeral Home, Inc.
In like fashion of his dad, Russell Dahl, Mike Dahl graduated from Concordia College and later joined Larry Dahl in attending the University of Minnesota Mortuary Science program. Since Mike already had a degree, he went through the Mortuary Science program for licensure, and Larry continued for his college degree. In 1976, Mike moved back to Dawson to join his dad and also for employment with Anderson Funeral Home in Montevideo. After a year of internship and becoming licensed, Larry moved back to Dawson to join his dad, and Mike joined the staff at Anderson Funeral Home. For over 20 years, Russ and Larry worked together in the funeral home. After the sudden death in 1996 of wife and mother Betty, Russ diminished his presence and later retired completely. Russ died on June 2, 2011, a month after his 89th birthday. Prior to this, with employee concerns for Larry at Hanson & Dahl and for Mike at Anderson’s in Monte, an agreement between the two was formed. Kevin TeBeest was hired as a full-time employee. They later hired Careleen Helgeson as part-time help in both locations. In 2005, to meet the needs of ever-changing funeral prearranging and financing, Larry formed an insurance agency as part of the funeral home. LuAnn and Kevin are licensed insurance agents.
Kevin TeBeest purchased the business in 2012. Judy TeBeest joined the staff as a licensed mortician in 2015, and Kyle and Camille TeBeest joined in 2017. Kurt TeBeest joined the staff in 2024.
Kevin and Judy opened the Granite Falls location in October of 2018, after renovating the building formerly occupied by Tillie's Restaurant. They hosted an open house event for the community on October 21, 2018. Kyle and Camille TeBeest, son and daughter-in-law of Kevin and Judy, took on significant roles in operating the Granite Falls location as licensed funeral directors. Kyle and Camille graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2016, each with their own degree in Mortuary Science.
The furniture and funeral businesses have been at 5 various locations in Dawson that include main street at the present bowling alley site (1), east side in the former Dueber’s location (2), a vacant corner lot just north of Ken’s TV (3), Highway 212 in present Dawson Engineering (4), and the present funeral home location at 718 Chestnut St (5).
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