Johanna Gay Costel

Hanna passed away peacefully to join her mother, Virginia, and her brother, Paul, with our Heavenly Father last week, in Logan, UT.

Hanna was the sixth of eight children born to Joseph and Virginia Brunelli in January of 1963 in Casper, Wyoming. After attending Southridge Elementary School and CY Junior High School, she graduated from Natrona County High School in 1981. Hanna received a BS in Civil Engineering (with an Architectural emphasis) at the University of Wyoming in 1986 and was awarded the Senior Engineering Architectural Project Award that year.

Hanna will be dearly missed as her easy laughter and enthusiasm for life always brightened every gathering. Hanna left her loved ones with wonderful memories, including her exuberant singing during the family’s Christmas caroling and her heartfelt renditions of “You Are My Sunshine.” Her keen interest in politics often led to enthusiastic debates and the writing of letters to the editor. Hanna was a natural leader and a gifted mathematician. Students at Adams Elementary School (Logan) were fortunate, when for 3 years, Hanna volunteered to supervise math groups. She was employed for 10 years by Logan City School District as a teacher’s aide/physical education teacher at Woodruff Elementary School and once again her favorite activity was assisting children excel at math.

Among Hanna’s favorite early memories were working for Youth Conservation Corps as a teenager building trails on Casper Mountain and spending summers with her family visiting her grandmother in Vermont. She also liked to brag about her basketball acumen and the players she shredded during her high school years. Throughout her life, Hanna was extremely generous with her time and talents. She provided months of babysitting and memorable summer vacations for nieces and nephews and loved organizing and hosting extended family gatherings. Hanna’s creativity ranged from sewing flannel shirts for her father and making macrame chairs, to designing the family home with her husband. A very talented artist, Hanna enjoyed needlework, tole painting, jewelry-making, and various other artistic endeavors. Most of her father’s handmade furniture is adorned by Hanna’s decorative artwork, her handicraft and art works have honored places in the homes of family and friends. A devoted fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Hanna of course, loathed the New York Yankees. She also enjoyed camping and hiking – her favorite destination was Yellowstone National Park.

Hanna married Ron Costel in 1985. After college, the couple moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and a few years later to Logan, Utah, where her three boys (Taylor, Jordan, and Paul) were born. Hanna’s extended family includes her father Joe, siblings Stephanie Brunelli, Joe Brunelli (Meg Gallagher), Jennifer (Carl) Saunders, Julianne Owens, Cindy (Randy) Dye, and Cecily Brunelli (Chris Propst), and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, and Diane Thomas.

Services will be held at 10:30 AM, Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, in Casper, Wyoming.

Rather than flowers, donations can be made to support Yellowstone National Park at: https://www.yellowstone.org/