Kristin von Hahn

Wilderness adventurer, economist, wife, mother of two, and dog lover, Kristin Margarethe von Hahn left us much too soon on December 21, 2024 in Seattle, Washington at the age of 68. Kristin was born in Vancouver on May 24, 1956 to the late Freda and Heinrich von Hahn, where she was the fourth of five children in a Baltic German immigrant family.

Despite the challenges of creating a new life in Canada, the Hahn family had a fulfilling social life due to the large Baltic German diaspora in Vancouver. In her youth Kristin enjoyed summering in the Okanagan with her brothers and family friends, returning to the place where the Hahns first landed in Canada post-war. She learned to knit and sew from her grandmother which transitioned to a creative hobby as an adult where she made many practical items for friends and family. German was her mother tongue but early enrollment at a French immersion Catholic School had her speaking three languages before she was a teenager.

Kristin had a lifelong love of travel and adventure sparked in the eleventh grade by attending boarding school at Schule Birklehof in Southern Germany. After completing her undergraduate studies at the University of British Columbia, she spent a year in a Parisian garret with her childhood friend where they famously joined the swim team at the Sorbonne to get a hot shower. Hitchhiking through Ireland with her younger brother Tom, travelling in Europe with her parents, and honeymooning in Thailand with husband Douglas were among her favorite adventures in her early adulthood.

She began her career in Ottawa, Ontario as an economist at the Liberal Research Bureau. Motivated by broader job prospects, she pursued a Masters in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. Her intelligence and ease with others led to a successful career as an economist at the Tax Policy Branch of the Ministry of Finance, as a management consultant with Deloitte, Point B, and later, in her own consulting business with her husband, Douglas, OTB Solutions.

It was in Ontario that she met her husband, Douglas Coutts (married in 1985), made life-long friends through work and graduate school, and owned her first home with Douglas in Toronto where their first child Owen was born. A desire for the nature of the west coast prompted a move to Vancouver where Lilian was born. 

Kristin and family moved to Seattle in 1994, an initially temporary move that ultimately spanned the last 30 years of her life. The University Co-operative School, where Owen and Lilian attended, served as the foundation for Kristin’s community and social life in Seattle. Kristin instilled an enthusiasm for nature and love of the outdoors in her children by organizing camping and skiing trips with other U Co-op families.

In addition to raising her two children, Kristin also raised in succession her two beloved labrador retrievers, Zelda and Gordon. Her firm Germanic dog training style led to her reputation among friends and family as the ultimate dog whisperer. 

Outdoor adventuring continued to be a theme of Kristin’s later years. Family backpacking trips in the Grand Canyon, hut-to-hut hiking in the Dolomites with Owen, trekking with Lilian in Nepal, canoeing in the Amazon with Douglas, skate-skiing in the Methow valley with her U Co-op mom gang, ultra-light backpacking in the North Cascades with family and friends, and hiking in Palm Springs with sisters Trixi and Andrea was her idea of a good time. Her dream of van life came to fruition when Douglas renovated a Sprinter van and they road-tripped across North America. Even while in cancer treatment in her last few years, she loved travelling off the grid in the van with Douglas and dog Gordon. 

As busy as she was with her career, Kristin always made family a priority and never missed an opportunity to celebrate a birthday or family holiday in Vancouver. This included the classic Hahn Christmas Eve party at her mother Freda’s, older brother Patricks’s New Year’s Eve birthday celebration, and cherished summertime grilling and swimming at older sister Trixi’s in Lions Bay. 

Witty, warm, blunt, and compassionate, Kristin had a gift for making and maintaining long-term friendships. A reliable problem solver and eager advocate, she was the go-to speaker and facilitator for her family and many friends. Always ready with a quick quip, her sense of humor was uniquely sharp and sustaining.

Even after the progression of a cancerous brain tumor and declining memory, her predilection to joke and poke fun at those around her continued. Her last months were made as comfortable and engaging as possible with the help of her good friends and family as well as the great care she received at the Empress Assisted Living Facility. 

In addition to her husband, Douglas, and her children Owen and Lilian, she leaves her siblings Andrea Thomsett, Beatrix Hahn Grant, Patrick von Hahn (Carola von Hahn), Thomas von Hahn (Karen von Hahn); many nieces and nephews; as well as grand-nieces and grand-nephews. 

A celebration of Kristin’s life will be held in Seattle on January 25, 2025, 1PM at the Golden Gardens Bathhouse.