DELBERT N HANSEN

Delbert N Hansen Life Sketch Mike Ohman Dec 2006 Delbert was born at his parent’s home in Brigham City on March 5, 1912. He was the second child, both boys. Deb and his older brother, Londy, spent most of their lives together. They worked on their father’s farm together, played together, and helped one another in their chores and assignments. You hardly saw one without the other as they were growing up. Del did well in school. He enjoyed math and excelled in business. Much to the dismay of his father, Del enrolled in LDS Business College and took extended educational courses from LaSalle University. Rather than working as a farmer, as his father wished, he became a lumberman in the retail/wholesale business. He married Jesse Crowthers from Perry, Utah in the Logan Temple. They had three children, Reese, Dick, and Barbara. He worked in Tremonton for many years, managing Tri-State Lumber Company. When it was sold to Boise Cascade, he was reassigned to Twin Falls, Idaho and became Regional Manager. His business required travel almost from the beginning, so he earned a pilots license and flew himself and others to and from corporate meetings. As a little boy, I remember my Dad and me going out to the Brigham City Airport. Then, just a small place with a runway and a wind sock hung from a pole to determine the direction and intensity of the winds, flying in a small prop plane with Uncle Delbert at the controls. We circled the city a couple of times and buzzed our home. It was a memorable if not a somewhat frightening experience for a ten year old boy. Uncle Deb was a skilled negotiator and earned the reputation of being the corporation’s hatchet-man, but even with that austere subtitle, he was well respected. He worked for Boise Cascade for 43 years. He served on the Garland City Council. He was a charter member of the Bear River Valley Flying Farmers Organization. He served as mayor of Tremonton. He was politically savvy and eloquently persuasive. He was active in the LDS Church, serving as executive secretary in a bishopric and in his later years as temple worker in the Ogden temple. I remember Uncle Deb as being busy. He always had a litany of places to go and people with whom he was to meet. Trips to Brigham City were not frequent, but they were eventful. He always called me Mick. He was kind, but to the point. When I was a teenager and was playing the organ, Deb and Jessie bought a small organ for their home. He invited me to play it for them. He asked for The Yellow Rose of Texas. Every time I visited their home, Uncle Deb would sing and I would play. He was a fine craftsman. He had a shop built in his home that had every gizmo and gadget imaginable. Each item had a place in his shop and it was as clean as any part of their home. It had a built-in vacuum that would draw any dust and wood chips to a central container keeping the saw immaculate. And, he was conversant in the use of each tool. Deb built his home himself, even to the texturing of the ceilings. I remember going to his home to help. He showed me how to use a tool he had made to apply the ceiling texture. It was a pole with a large towel-like wad carefully bunched on the end, then carefully wrapped with a heavy plastic. With the texture placed on the ceiling with a trowel, this pole and wad was used to mooch and squish the texture on the ceiling. It was interesting to see, and quite effective in result. He would then go over it with a trowel to smooth the surface. Once it dried, then it could be painted. He was comfortable in teaching me about a carpentry trick or how to properly use a tool. His home was a showplace. The yard was immaculate. Never could you find a weed or a dry spot. It was always manicured, perfectly trimmed, with beautifully sculptured shrubs and plants. Del was the second of six children, but the first to go. He died of heart failure in the McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden and was buried in Brigham City.

Interesting Facts Delbert’s Age Birth: 5 March 1912, Brigham City, Utah 2 of 6 Baptism: 27 Mar 1920, Brigham City, Utah 8 Married: 21 Nov 1934, Logan, Utah Temple 22 Reese’s Birth: 17 Oct 1935, Brigham City, Utah 23 Dick’s Birth: 27 May 1940, Brigham City, Utah 28 Barbara’s Birth: 2 May 1946, Brigham City, Utah 36 Father’s Death: 14 Dec 1961, Brigham City, Utah 49 Mother’s Death: 9 Nov 1963, Ogden, Utah 51 Death: 31 May 1988, Ogden, Utah 76 Buried: 3 June 1988, Brigham City, Utah