Hannah Parris was born in Ithaca, New York, and grew up in New England. She graduated from Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Hannah earned a BA in English at New York University and a master's in Special Education at the University of Oregon, later completing a second master's in School Administration.
Living with her two daughters, Abi and Anne, on the west coast, Hannah taught for Easter Seals Oregon, and then taught elementary school and high school in the Central Valley, California.
Hannah had a sense of adventure. She traveled to all the continents except Antarctica, her favorite destinations being Ukraine and Mongolia. She lived in Khmelnitsky, Ukraine, for a time, teaching American Literature to high school students. Back at home in Modesto she was active in Modesto Sister Cities International and hosted two Ukrainian college students.
Hannah volunteered for the Great Valley Museum, the Heifer Project, the Modesto Hope Chest Thrift Store, and the McHenry Mansion. She loved classical music and sang with the Master Singers and played the clarinet as well as attending the symphony. Always eager to learn, she became proficient in flower arrangement, gardening, and water colors. As her sight became poor, Hannah began learning Braille. "She was a fun person," a friend recalled.
Hannah met Liz Baker when both served on the board of the Pacific Friends Outreach Society as it searched for a permanent yearly meeting site. Both lived too far to attend an established meeting regularly, so in 2003 they began a Sunday morning group that met weekly in Hannah's home for Friends worship and fellowship under the care of the Berkeley Meeting. When the pandemic began, Hannah became a faithful attender of the Sacramento Friends' online worship, and joined in online Bible study with Ohio Quakers.
Hannah passed away on February 15, 2024, at the age of 89, having lived, in her words, “a very full life."