HANSON: In Loving Memory of Spencer Hall Hanson who was born October 10, 1928 at Kelvington, SK and passed away January 22, 2013 at North Battleford, SK. Spencer is survived by his loving wife, Yvonne; his daughters and families: Sheila (Christopher) Rigby: Matthew (Nadine) - Airalea & Asher, Andrew; Lynn Hanson: Kurtis & Sean Kulpa; daughter-in-law and family: Barb Hanson (Mike) - Reid: Dana (Lori), Brandi (Stewart), Christine (Patrick) - Isobel, Kim (Eric) - Skye & Shaylee, Meagen; his adopted family: Alyson Oles: Richard (Leah), Lloyd (Bonnie) Haegebaert, June (Armand) Labossiere: Jeannene (Rich) Wawrykowich - Ashley, Brendan, Derek; Benjamin Lehman (Magen) - William & Dawson; Jenisa Lehman (Kevin) - Elisa & Connor; Tavis Lehman (Tannis); Dawn Gibbons: Elizabeth (Richard), Andrew, Victoria; Mark Haegebaert; Heather (Keith) Feist: Rachel & Blake; Tuesday (Kevin) Fichtner: William, Stuart, Katherine. Spencer was predeceased by his parents and grandparents; his first wife, Nora; his son, Doug. Celebration Of Life was held Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. from St. Paul's Anglican Church, North Battleford, SK with The Reverend Peter Norman officiating. The Eulogist was Genny Lindeman and Shared Memories by the Grandchildren. Gifts of Music: Mrs. Joan Harrison - Organist; Jaki Esquirol - Soloist and Music Selections: "Be Not Afraid", "You Are Near", "On Eagles Wings" & "I'll Fly Away". The Urn Bearer was Grandson, Dana Hanson. The Honourary Pallbearers & Honour Guard was Good Sams. Memorials are requested to Battlefords Residential Services, 1607 St. Laurent Dr., North Battleford, SK S9A 3B6; Battlefords Union Hospital Foundation Inc, Box 1358, North Battleford, SK S9A 3L8 - directed to the Palliative Care Unit. Interment will take place at Prairie Willows Columbaria, City Cemetery, North Battleford, SK at a later date. Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Battlefords Funeral Service. 446-4200 Eulogy By: Genny Lindeman The North Battleford Polka Fest in April, 2000 was a memorable one - that is the day Yvonne met Spencer. At the time Spencer was living in Calgary and out for a visit. Little did they both know it was a Polka Fest that would change the direction of both their lives! That was when Joe and I met and got to know Spencer. Since then Joe and I have spent many social occasions, Polka Fests, auctions, fishing trips and bus trips with Spencer and Yvonne. Some of Spencer's favorite outings were the fishing trips to Smits Landing, Canoe Lake, Big River, Little Shell and Wapiti. Each one of these occasions generated at least one memorable event - such as both Yvonne & Spencer realizing each of them left their trailer keys at home which was 2 hours away. This called for improvision and ingenuity, resulting in borrowing a drill which Joe luckily had along with him, some bits from a neighboring camper and drilling the trailer lock open. Of course, there followed a lengthy discourse on the future handling of keys in the household! Both Spencer and Yvonne's birthdays are in October, and a number of years found us finishing the fishing season with one last fishing trip in October. However, by that time the water was generally cut off in the camp grounds or frozen in the temporary hoses hooked up to a cabin. And the temperature on the water could be quite cold while fishing. But the reward of hot toddies when the men came back in seemed to provide quite satisfying reward and compensation. I wonder if that's the reason Spencer liked October fishing so much! Spencer also enjoyed the Polka Fests and jam sessions which often took place before the Polka Fests began. Spencer was an accomplished, self-taught accordion player, and composed a particularly beautiful song which he entitled "Bow River". Spencer also competed in the Kimberly Polka Fest and once joined in with 300 other accordion players in an attempt to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most accordions being played simultaneously. Spencer was a licensed Commercial Pilot, and still held a valid license. He was very proud of his Cherokee plane and the fact that he had been a flight instructor for the Air Cadets in Wainwright. He had many stories, many of which were quite incredible, of his flying experiences in the North. His instinct of self-preservation and being able to adjusting to the unforeseen circumstances which often arose, stood him in good stead many times. Spencer was not afraid to tackle any project of sport until he mastered it, whether it was fixing and remodeling something, learning to do the double-step polka, or down-hill skiing, which he did for the first time when he was 65, and down a Banff slope, no less. He was not intimidated by any situation and just persevered until he accomplished what he set out to do. Spencer had many skills, but they didn't extend to laundry. On one isolated occasion, for a reason known only to himself, Spencer decided to do the household laundry. He efficiently put all the laundry he could find - towels, workclothes, and delicates into one load, then filled the soap dispenser with soap and the fabric softener with bleach, and went back upstairs patting himself on the back for helping out without even being asked. You know the rest of the story! But to his credit, Spencer followed Yvonne to the clothing store with head down and his cheque book in his hand to replace some of the damage. That was his one and only foray into developing laundry skills. Spencer enjoyed the RV travels with the Good Sams, enjoying the company, building a campfire and sharing jokes. On one particular occasion playing cards he couldn't understand why it was getting so dark, only to be told he was wearing his sunglasses! Spencer loved telling jokes, he loved good food and he loved his morning at "the office". Whatever he did, he did with gusto and enthusiasm. He was a man of determination, fortitude and perseverance, a man of integrity and a loyal friend. He added color and interest to anything he was part of. His presence with be greatly missed amongst all those whose lives he touched. Memories: By the Grandchildren As kids, whenever we went fishing or plane trips with Grandpa, he would always let us steer the plane or boat. He always kept a hand on the controls himself but he seemed to want to share his love of flying or boating with us. The best part about fishing with Grandpa was how much we looked forward to him cooking whatever we caught. All of us enjoyed the time we spent on the boat and he always made sure safely was first and you always had to wear your lifejacket, even though his was only half-on. He was eager to teach the art of filleting, deboning and how to get your lines untangled when they caught in the motor. Flying was another very important part of who Grandpa was. He was the only eighty year old I knew who still flew a place. He would freely hand out business cards for his charter service and often talked about flying lawyers up north. He was asked to fly in after hurricane Katrina and even did transport services up north. Being a pilot was huge part of who Grandpa was and he put great care into each of his planes. Grandpa was great at giving compliments to all of us whether it was telling us how good looking we are or letting us know how well we are learning golf or the instrument we have taken up. He always gave us encouragement and feedback to help us be our best. Grandpa could play many instruments and liked to entertain us whenever we would visit. We especially enjoyed watching him play the accordion and jig with his fiddle. In closing, it's like Grandpa himself said, once you take a liking to a Viking, it's like no other. As a kid we all liked spending time with our Grandpa because it seemed like he had a little bit of kid in him himself. He stayed young well into his eighties and never seemed to age. He was always eager for competition and never let us win. He may have cheated, well definitely cheated and was caught many times, but always talked his way out of it. He always had a good dirty joke and we'd share them with you, but there are children present. To make us laugh, and some of us cry, he would pop his teeth out and chase you around. Sometimes he would even get Grandma Nora to join in. Grandpa was always very active visiting friends and family and lending a helping hand to neighbors. Two Christmases ago when we went to visit Grandpa he had just gotten out of the hospital. He had seen a neighbor across the street trying to move a fridge by himself and thought he was a fool for moving it himself. So of course the 82 year man jumped in. When he wasn't visiting friends and helping out neighbors, you knew you could find him at his office, otherwise known as the Gold Eagle Casino. He was very appreciated by his colleagues and they were frequently giving him bonuses and trips to participate in tournaments. He loved the people he spent time with and never lost his ability to have fun. Note of Thank you Special thank you to Dr. Peter Holtzhausen and staff for their professionalism and kindness in helping Spencer in his final days; to Scott Parker and the Palliative Care Unit for the comfort and care to Spencer and our family; to Pastor Norman, Joan Harrison and Jaki Esquirol for the beautiful service, and the ladies for the lunch. Thank you to all those for attending the service, your kind words, flowers, food and memorial donations. Thank you to Bob and staff for their services. Sincerely ~ Yvonne Nyholt and families. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
