Vivian was the youngest daughter of Ingeborg and Henry Loe. Her mother died when she was two. Her father was unable to take care of her and her siblings, so they were sent to the North Dakota Children’s Home in Fargo or foster homes. Initially, Vivian lived with the local minister, Reverend Lewis, and his family. After briefly going back to the North Dakota Children’s Home, where she was reunited with some of her siblings, she went to live with Ole and Lisa Hanson. Shortly after she went to live with the Hanson’s, the family attended a church service in Minot where Reverend Lewis had taken over a new parish. When Vivian heard Reverend Lewis speak, she went running down the aisle towards him yelling, “Daddy”. Reverend Lewis picked her up and explained his relationship to the sweet little girl to his new congregation.

She was raised on the Hanson’s family farm near Ruso, North Dakota, with their four biological. She used the Hanson name and didn’t realize until her foster parents died that she had not been legally adopted. She attended a one-room school and read every book she could get her hands on. Charles Dickens was one of her favorite authors. To attend high school, she had to move to a neighboring town. She worked as a “hired girl” in exchange for room and board, while attending high school. After graduating from high school, Vivian attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned her nursing degree in 1947. She was a member of the U.S. World War II Nursing Corps.

About 1948, she moved to Chicago, where she stayed with relatives and worked at what’s now the University of Chicago Medical Center. She met Willis Joseph Meehan Jr. in Hyde Park. They were married in Cook County, Illinois on 08 September 1950. They lived in Wisconsin and Illinois where Bill worked as a stockbroker. They had four children. After they divorced in the mid 1960s, Vivian and the children moved to Highland Park, where she continued her nursing career.

In 1974, when her daughter developed an eating disorder, Vivian was surprised to learn that there was very little information about eating disorders. Working out of her home, she started a support group to help individuals with eating disorders and their families. She enlisted the help of physicians and dietitians to figure out how to help people who suffered from these disorders. Before many professionals and scientists, she understood the seriousness of eating disorders and that it wasn’t just a life choice for teenage girls. She was described as ‘the founding mother of eating-disorder treatment in the country’. She has been credited with saving many lives.

In 1979, First Lady Rosalynn Carter honored Ms. Meehan at a White House ceremony.
In the mid-1980s, she was instrumental in opening the eating disorders unit at Highland Park Hospital. In 1990, she testified before Congress about eating disorders. In 2002, she received a Point of Light award from a volunteer network founded by President George H.W. Bush. Free support groups affiliated with ANAD, the non-profit Vivian founded, spread. In 2003, Ms. Meehan told the Dear Abby advice column, “Our referral list includes more than 1,500 therapists and inpatient/outpatient programs in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Columbia and more.” She’s remembered as a motivated, passionate, warm person who cared deeply about this patient population. She made the world more aware of eating disorders.

Vivian died of multiple myeloma at her home in Riverwoods, Illiniois. She was preceded in death by her biological and foster parents, her biological and foster siblings, her first husband, and one son. She is survived by her second husband, three children, and four grandchildren.