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(May 4, 1918 - March 9, 2015)
World War II veteran Richard “Dick” Lawrence Hansen died in Powell on March 9, 2015. He was 96.
He was born on May 4, 1918, in Cheraw, Colo., to Hans Christian Hansen and Anna (Jorgensen) Hansen. He was their only child. His mother died when Dick was 2 years old. His father remarried, and Chris and Alma gave Dick two younger sisters and a brother.
Dick graduated from Cheraw High School in 1938. He attended the Aviation Institute of Denver in 1941. He was a technical sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, serving from 1942-46.
In 1949, Dick applied for a Wyoming homestead through the GI Bill, Bureau of Reclamation, Heart Mountain Division. He cleared the land and lived in a relocation camp barracks for over six years.
Dick met his future wife, Barbara Plumb, on the steps of the First United Methodist Church in Powell. They were married Sept. 27, 1953 in Greeley, Colo. They raised three daughters Ann, Jayne and Sharon and one son, Gary. Their infant daughter, Joan, died of a staph infection in 1956.
They later acquired an amendment above the Heart Mountain canal and bought another farm. They raised many different crops on their 350 acres of irrigated farm ground.
Dick loved to build and was an inventor of things that would make the farm life easier.
Dick served on the Heart Mountain Irrigation District Board, was active in Farm Bureau and the Powell Lamb Pool. In 2004, Dick and Barbara were honored as 50-year members of the First United Methodist Church in Powell where they were active members.
Dick was preceded in death by his wife Barbara; infant daughter Joan; grandson Zach Copenhaver; sister Thelma Southworth; and daughter-in-law, Maureen Hansen.
He is survived by his daughters Ann (Mark) Copenhaver of Powell, Jayne (Gene) Haggen of Holiday, Fla., Sharon Hansen of Billings; son Gary Hansen of Renton, Wash.; three grandchildren Sarah (Ryan) Shdo of Puyallup, Wash., Weston Haggen (and financee Stephanie) of Orlando, Fla., and Jeff Hansen of Renton, Wash.; and two great-grandchildren. He also leaves behind his sister, Betty (Mel) Wright of Lompoc, Calif., and his brother, Hans (Gerry) Hansen of Cheraw, Colo., along with many nieces and nephews including Don Dunleavy (Ginny Singer) and Mike (Symona) Dunleavy of Powell.
Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 13, at the First United Methodist Church. Burial with full military honors, will follow at the Crown Hill Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Powell.
