Jim E Hansen

James “Jim” Ellis Hansen passed away on September 9, 2015 at home surrounded by his family. He was born third of six children in Waitsburg, Washington on May 19, 1921, to Albert and Margaret Leid Hansen, long time pioneers of the valley. Jim was a member of the undefeated 1938 and 1939 Waitsburg High School football teams and graduated from high school in 1939. Jim attended Washington State College for two years where he studied agriculture engineering, during which time he was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and worked at Ferdinand’s Creamery on campus.

After enlisting in the U.S. Army Engineers in March 1943, he served in the European Theater of Operations with the 846 ^th Engineer Aviation battalion, earning five battle stars for his service in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland, and Central Europe where he landed on Normandy Beach, six days after D-Day to construct the first landing strip near Bayeaux for the 9 ^th Air Force. In 2010, Jim travelled to Washington DC with the Inland Northwest Honor Flight to visit the WWII Memorial in appreciation of his sacrifices he made 70-years ago to give us the liberty and freedom we and much of the world enjoys today.

After WWII, Jim met Mary Geraine Fries at a dance at the Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla. They were married on January 8, 1947 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and remained married for 68 years. They had six children, Norman, Karen, Jeanette, John, Mary, and Cheryl. In his early married life, while farming, Jim worked part-time as a telephone lineman, rural mail carrier, packer at the Preston-Shaffer Milling Co. in Waitsburg, plumber, electrician, carpenter, and a custom farmer. Jim and Geraine formed Hansen Harvester, Inc. and farmed on North and South Fork Coppei Rd, Coppei Mountain, custom harvesting and custom no-tilling. Over a 57-year span, Jim and Geraine employed, housed, and fed hundreds of young people who worked summer wheat harvests as a way to put themselves through college. He was known fondly as “Boss, ”401” and “403” and never believed in anything but a red combine careening over the steep Blue Mountain fields of gold, and the importance of a good education. In 2014, Jim and Geraine received the “Pioneers of the Year” honor by the Waitsburg Historical Society at the Waitsburg Fall Festival.

Jim served as Commander of the Waitsburg American Legion, Chef de Gare of 40 et 8, Chairman of the Waitsburg School Board, Past President of the Walla Walla County Wheat Growers Association, Walla Walla County Farm Bureau, Walla Walla Production Credit Association, the Washington Wheat Commission, and Pheasants Forever; board member for the National Association of Wheat Growers, Western Wheat; Soil Conservation Farmer of the Year – 1966; member of the Walla Walla Elks Lodge #287, Toastmasters, Danish Sisterhood, Walla Walla Country Club, and St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Waitsburg.

Jim loved to travel and enjoyed striking up a conversation in different languages with new friends. He and Geraine began their worldly travels in 1962 when they drove 5 children in a two-seated International Harvester Travelette pickup to Mexico City. Since that initial trip, they toured more than 57 countries on 6 continents to such locations as Southeast Asia, Africa, India, Nepal and Mt. Everest, Europe, South America, China, the Holy Land, Panama Canal, the former Soviet Union, Scandinavia, and the Caribbean.

Jim also loved to tend his many farm animals, whether raising Black Angus cattle or feeding his many cats and dogs. He also loved reading about history, especially WWII history, and wrote several family history stories and personal letters over the years.

Jim followed Washington State University Cougar sports and was a lifelong supporter of Cougar athletics and the Agricultural Research Center for wheat production. Jim would always say, “Go Cougs!” and “Well, the boys are young” being the true optimist that he was about Cougar football.

Survivors are his wife, Geraine; his two sons, Norman Hansen (Melissa), of Waitsburg, John Hansen of Ferndale; his four daughters, Karen Yager of Waitsburg, Jeanette Hansen of Walla Walla, Mary Hansen (Creston Rogerson) of Waitsburg, Cheryl Hansen (Alex Roberts) of Pullman; sisters, Ruth Hansen of Sequim, Rena Johnson of Walla Walla; grandsons, Eugene, Christopher, and Gregory Hansen, Michael Salvador, six step-grandchildren; and six great grandchildren. Preceding him in death are his parents; his siblings, Delbert, Helen, Tom, and son-in-law, Warren “Bud” Yager.

Viewing & visitation will be held on Sunday, September 13, 2015 from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM at the Herring Groseclose Funeral Home. The funeral mass will be held at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Waitsburg on Monday, September 14, 2015 at 10 a.m. with burial at the Waitsburg Cemetery. Lunch will follow at St. Mark’s Parish Hall. Memorial donations may be made to the charity of choice through the Herring Groseclose Funeral Home, 315 W Alder, Walla Walla.