Pastor Joelle Colville-Hanson was born in Los Angeles, California on July 2, 1957. She attended California Lutheran College in Thousand Oaks for three years and graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in sociology.
Pastor Joelle received her Master of Divinity from Pacific Lutheran Seminary in Berkeley, California in 1985. She earned her Doctor of Ministry from The Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago in 1998.While awaiting call from 1985 until 1986 she served as interim pastor for the parish of Lower Coon Valley Lutheran in Stoddard, Wisconsin and Middle Coon Valley Lutheran church in Chaseburg, Wisconsin.
Pastor Joelle was ordained in 1986 at Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco and served her first call as Associate Pastor at Hope Lutheran Church in Madison, Wisconsin. She then served the joint parish of Trinity-St. John Lutheran in Birnamwood Wisconsin from 1989-1998. Before coming to Salem in June of 2005, she served St. John Lutheran in Cushing, Iowa.
Pastor Joelle met her husband, Loren Hanson in Chaseburg, Wisconsin and they were married on July 4, 1987 in Madison, Wisconsin. They have two children, Isaac, and Sarah, who attend Roland Story High School now. Loren was killed in a car accident in 1999.
Pastor Joelle enjoys figure skating, gardening and scrapbooking in her spare time. She is very happy to be serving at Salem.
