Spirit of Christmas lives through family’s charity tradition

For more than a quarter-century of Christmas seasons, the Hanna home in east Wichita has paired wide-eyed wonder with a great cause.

“People used to ask my wife, ‘Why do you do it?’” says Bill Hanna, a former Koch executive. “And she’d tell the same story.”

Janice Hanna was looking out the front door late one night and saw an old car – a really old car – pull up into the couple’s circular driveway, he said. The car windows rolled part-way down. Then, several tiny fingers curled over the top of the windows, and little eyes gazed out at the Hannas’ holiday lights display.

The car stayed several minutes while the children marveled at the twinkling lights and animated Christmas characters. Then it rolled away.

“From then on,” Bill Hanna said, “we were always going to have the decorations.”

Janice Hanna, long known for her years of service to the Wichita Children’s Home and other charities, died in August 2010. But the holiday lights display she pieced together year after year still brightens the Hanna home near Central and Rock Road, and it still raises thousands in donations for the city’s shelter for children who have been abused or neglected.

Janice Hanna “had a real heart and spirit for the Children’s Home, so this is kind of a tribute to her,” said Debbie Kennedy, the home’s new CEO.

This Friday through Tuesday, Bill Hanna once again will open his yard at 2 N. West Parkway each evening for motorists to drive through and see the expansive lights display. The display is free, but donations to the Children’s Home are encouraged and cheerfully accepted.

“It’s fascinating to see,” Bill Hanna said Friday. “We’ve been doing it long enough now that we’ll see couples say, ‘My mom and dad are in the back, and they used to take us through here when we were kids.’ … People love it.”

Hanna, 78, hesitated to say whether this would be the final year for the lights on West Parkway. Volunteers, friends and extended family members help staff the display. He’s just not sure how much longer he’ll keep it going.

“It’s been special to my family – a connection, really” to his late wife, he said. “Even if they can’t come, they think about it.”

Robin Ragland Smith, an account executive with I Heart Radio in Wichita, has broadcast live from the house for several years and says it’s one of her favorite local events of the holiday season. Children and adults love the lights as well as the nodding, waving animals and other characters, including several collectible Annalee dolls.

“To see the look on those kids’ faces when their parents roll down the window and Santa goes to the window and gives them a candy cane – it makes my Christmas every year,” Smith said.

“It’s the most wonderful thing, and Mr. Hanna is such a special person.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2014 at 7:34 AM with the headline "Spirit of Christmas lives through family’s charity tradition."