Kathleen J. Hansen

1951 - 2024

BiographyBorn on March 23, 1951, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Kathy was the granddaughter of a glassblower who worked at the Phoenix Glass Company in Monaca, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. A schoolteacher by trade, she became an avid researcher and collector of glass made by Phoenix.

Kathy, an accomplished pianist, earned a B.S.in Music Education from Duquesne University. She then earned her master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Pittsburgh and taught for 28 years in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Kathy had multiple interests, she was an avid gardener at her church and at home, and an active member of the Pittsburgh Iris and Daylily Society. A passionate researcher and collector of Phoenix and Consolidated Glass, Kathy was also an active member of the Three Rivers Depression Era Glass Collecting Society and a founding member of the Phoenix and Consolidated Glass Collector’s Club. She frequently lectured on and mounted small displays of Phoenix Glass around the region. Her museum collection reflects rare and unusual pieces, many with original and sample labels and her archives include rare catalogs, postcards, advertisements, photographs, and oral histories with Phoenix company workers.