Life story

" Ceva Jean Andersen

06.13.1942 - 07.23.2025

About Her and Her history…

Ceva Jean (Hanson) Andersen, born in Newman Grove, Nebraska on June 13, 1942 to the late Clifford and Clara Hanson, passed peacefully in the early morning of July 23, 2025 in Olathe, Kansas at the Villa St. Francis hospice at the age of 83 from a battle with Lymphoma.

Ceva was a beloved and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, teacher and friend. Ceva grew up at the family farm in Newman Grove. After high school, she graduated from Dana College with a teaching degree. Thereafter, she met B.B. (Andy) Andersen and they built their life together in Topeka, Kansas. They had sons Mark and John together and she was a step-mom to Andy’s children from his first marriage, Todd and Darren. During their years together, Andy built a successful construction and development business, and she chose to be a homemaker and stay at home to raise the boys. She was a loving mother with close relationships to both of her sons. Her boys were her everything - her pride and joy. She was a wonderful homemaker and Mom. Her cooking was legendary. Those family recipes will be passed down, especially for her Norweigen pastry, which was a staple she would bring throughout the gatherings with her children and grandchildren. She was a wonderful grandmother to Mark‘s two daughters, Jessica and Ashley, and to John’s two children, Jacob and Ayla. She doted on and spoiled them in the best of ways and was active in their lives. She was a big dog lover and passed that on to her children.

Professionally, after John left for college, Ceva transitioned from being a homemaker to teaching kindergarten in Topeka, Kansas for 15 years. She then left the teaching profession and moved to Lawrence, Kansas for a few years, before eventually moving to Overland Park, Kansas, where she remained. She worked in retail and management in the client service and the gift department, where her beautiful flair and creative decorating talents shined. Her own gift packages were works of art and full of creativity and love. She had such a great style and elegance about her, and her home always looked like it was decorated for an eclectic magazine shoot. She always had gorgeous, well-tended flower gardens as well that she greatly enjoyed. After Ceva retired, she volunteered at the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens. No matter where Ceva lived, she was a diligent church goer with a deep-rooted faith in the Lutheran religion. Her beautiful soul and loving, kind ways will be deeply missed.

Ceva was predeceased by her son, Mark’s, passing way too young. Ceva is survived by her son, John Andersen, his wife Darci, her daughter-in-law Susan, and her grandchildren: Jessica and Ashley (from Mark), Jacob and Ayla (from John), and her great-grandson, Creed. All live around the Kansas City metro area and suburbs. Ceva was an only child, but she was very close with and is survived by her cousins, Chawna and Carla. All will miss her deeply and cherish her forever but are so thankful she was in their lives.

The Memorial Service, and the following Celebration of Life, to honor the life of Ceva Jean Andersen will be held on Saturday, August 16 at 2:00 pm at her church, Advent Lutheran Chruch, located at 11800 W. 151st Street, Olathe, Kansas 66062. In lieu of flowers and other memorial donations, we would invite anyone interested to donate directly via Ceva’s personalized, donations page at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society:

https://diy.lls.org/CevaJAndersen />


Although Ceva‘s presence may no longer grace our lives, her spirit and love will live on inside us and forever shine brightly in our hearts. She will be interned next to her mom and dad in Newman Grove, Nebraska after a small, family ceremony at the family church, Shell Creek Lutheran, where generations have been baptized, married and buried.

P.S.: For those that would like know more about Ceva through John, keep reading.

Ceva, through the eyes of John with Mark in spirit…

To encapsulate such a wonderful woman, who was also so incredibly dear to me,

in a few short words is paralyzingly difficult enough to make one seamingly wordless. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write; however, this is an honor and comes with intangible humility, love, and respect. As Mom would easily overflow any figurative box one would use to describe, these final words will be longer than the norm, not by design but due to the subject - Ceva.



I’ve never met anyone like her: she was a one-cast mold. She was kind, loving, loyal, and forever in your corner. Her sense of style and design was uniquely “Ceva.” With everything she did, she brought that sense, leaving her defining fingerprint and doing so with a surprising effortlessness. Details mattered to her and were a place where she flourished. She missed nothing and brought to light details not yet seen and, when applicable, wove in sentiment seamlessly. Remembering everything, she loved to integrate sentiment in a truly genuine and meaningful way. As a lover of character, she view flaws and scuffs in things as “just added character.”



Whether she was being a mother, teaching, working, volunteering, gardening, redesigning a room, building an arrangement, creating an art piece in wrapping a gift, cooking, or just “punting,” she immersed herself and was exceptionally present. Mom made a mark on people that knew her, as you couldn’t miss how delightful and magnetic she was and the wonderful blend of grace, intelligence, sense of and appreciation of manners, art, her father’s dry sense of humor, emotion, education, refinement, eccletic style, and genuineness that she encompassed. It was apparent how easy it was to naturally be drawn to her. A lover of great connections, she valued quality in relationships over quantity, which began and ended as a mother.



Mom was an amazing mother. Love guided everything she did, even her discipline and life tutelage along the way. No matter the circumstance, her love and support were unconditional, as she was there for Mark and I through anything. Note, she did attibute early grey hair to Mark, and I helped round her out and complete the task. Her uncanny, mother’s intuition was mostly infallible, which Mark and I didn’t love as ornery teenagers with alterior motives in our plans. By the sound in your voice or a glance into her big blues, whatever it was…she knew. Her motherly instincts carried into being a grandmother and great grandmother, which she loved. She definitely subscribed to the theory of spoiling them in every way before dropping them off to mom and dad. When our kids were young and misbehaving, it was not uncommon to be discussing with her, and she would then chuckle, easing to a laugh. In saying to her that this wasn’t funny, she would remark, “Oh, honey, but it is. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this.” The dry sense of humor was laced with empathy, delivered with charm.



Toward the end of her life, her perspective was resonating-

crytalizing and uplifting. She had been a warrior. When the winds changed, and her new reality and fate determined, Mom had the most beautiful perspective. She spoke in gratitude of a wonderful life and one full of love and family. She remarked on being blessed with uncommon, tremendous health for all but her last six months. Her perspective on her life and her faith, undoubtedly, guided her in having complete closure, not only with death, but with a wonderful life, fully lived with love. Although my brother Mark left this world way too soon, and left an unfillable void within her, at the end she noted her happiness that he was already on the other side and waiting for her. She finished one of these tough, yet wonderful conversations we were blessed to have with one of her favorite poems. She recited, “Life is tough. God is good. Let’s Dance.” All I could do is smile through the tears and take note. In short essence, I loved her so dearly: she was the Mom of moms.



I could have started and ended, simply, with the previous sentence. However, she would have been quick to notice, and not fond of or amused with the shortcut, as the details mattered: they always mattered to her. With a grateful heart, thank you for--the “Dance.”





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