George Aften Hansen, 90, a long-time resident of Pine Valley passed away quietly Nov. 1, 2007 at St. Elizabeth Nursing Home in Baker City, Oregon.
A Traditional Funeral Service will be on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, 2:00 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Halfway Branch followed by a Vault Interment at Pine Haven Cemetery. There will be a reception for friends and family at the L.D.S. Church following the services.
George was born Dec. 21, 1916 to John Peter and Dora A. Hansen, in Lawrence, Utah. He lost his mother when he was two years old. After that he remembers traveling part way across Utah in a covered wagon to a place his father had homesteaded. His father passed away 3 months after they arrived. George then lived with his oldest brother Ralph and his wife. They moved to Halfway Jan. 1, 1926. He attended schools in Carson and Pine Valley. After graduating he worked as a logger and at the sawmill until 1940 where he went back to Utah where he attended a sheet metal school. He worked for Boeing for two years before joining the service to serve 3 years during WWII, which included ten months in the South Pacific. He was discharged in 1945. He returned to Halfway, where he owned and operated a service station, which he later sold. He worked on his brother’s ranch for a while, until he bought Stockmen’s and ran it for several years before selling out.
George married Bessie Makinson in 1956 and they lived happily together until Bessie passed away in 1993.
George worked on the dams on the Snake River, Ellingson sawmill, managed the Pine Eagle Co-op, and several other jobs until he became Halfway Postmaster in 1965 until retirement in 1982. Through all this time George was very active in his church and many service organizations. He was a member of the VFW (the posts’ oldest lifetime member at this time), the Pine Valley Grange, the Halfway Lions, the Baker County Sheriffs Posse, and the Elks. George and a few other locals were instrumental in getting the first VFW Ambulance in Pine Valley.
George volunteered on the ambulance for many years, eventually becoming one of the first EMT II’s in the area. George responded to many, many ambulance calls over the years. For a number of years the ambulance phone was in their home and Bessie helped dispatch. George was the bookkeeper, did the billing, paid the bills, attended meetings again and again to keep the ambulance service up to standard and was relentless in obtaining needed upgrades to the equipment and new ambulances. He was also a member of a group who started the Pine Eagle Clinic, which is a huge asset to the community. In his years as a Posse member he helped put on the youth trail ride, went on numerous search and rescue operations, and helped with many, many other events the Posse sponsored.
George is survived by his niece Venna Moody of Halfway, Joyce Gordon, St. George, Utah, great nephew Barry DelCurto, Halfway, and numerous other relatives.
For those who wish to make a memorial contribution in memory of George they may do so to the Halfway/Oxbow Ambulance Service through Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home P.O. Box 543 Halfway, OR 97834.
Used with permission from: The Record Courier, Baker City, Oregon, November 8, 2007
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor