Hanna Kahl Hyland

Hanna Kahl Hyland passed away peacefully on June 9, 2024, at Midstate Medical Center in Meriden, CT, surrounded by her loving family and friends. Hanna was born in October 1932 in Suesel, a small village in Northern Germany. After the War, she emigrated to England at age 22, and became a nurse. There she met her husband, Dr. John Hyland. She enrolled in St. Martin’s School of Art in London to study sculpture. In 1967, John and Hanna moved to the U.S. and settled in Hamden, CT. She continued her art training and became an accomplished artist, working in sculpture, painting, miniatures, and especially dolls. She became a renowned doll artist, creating fairy tale dioramas, fashion dolls, Hittie dolls, in apples, wood, and porcelain. She created a doll for the movie “The Patriot,” Tiffany commissioned her to create fairy tale dioramas for their window, and she was invited to create 12 fairy tale dioramas for her dedicated room in the Kentucky Gateway Miniature Museum. Her dolls were regularly featured on the cover of Doll magazines.

Hanna was an outstanding cook and loved to entertain. She personified elegance and charm, loved literature and classical music, gardening, her cats, skiing, and late in life took up memoir writing. She surrounded herself with a rich web of loyal friends and her extended Irish, German and American family.

Hanna was predeceased by her husband, John Hyland, and by her two sisters. She is survived by her brother, Addi Kahl, and by her nieces and nephews from the extended Kahl and Hyland families, and their families. A memorial for friends and family was held in Wallingford, CT on June 14, 2024.