Wayne Hansen

Wayne Edward Hansen passed from this life on Tuesday, March 24 2015, finally succumbing to the devastation of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Wayne (Mr. Wayno to his students) was born on Jan. 8th 1942 in Drayton, North Dakota to Lawrence & Bernice Hansen.  The family lived in Stephen, MN for a number of years until moving to Minneapolis where Bernice contracted polio and died when Wayne was 4 years old.  This devastated the family and they moved back to Stephen where they lived until Wayne was 14 and the family moved to Silver Bay.  Wayne and his classmates attended classes in houses on Banks Blvd while Wm. Kelley High School was being built and graduated from there in 1960.  Wayne attended college at SCSU majoring in English and Speech. He was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity at SCSU.    In 1966, he married the love of his life, Jill Hultman Hansen, they moved to Silver Bay where they spent their 48 years together skiing, sailing Lake Superior, and raising 2 sons.  Wayne and Jill are charter members of the Bayfield Yacht Club and have many wonderful friends there.  Wayne was a ski patrol at Lutsen Mountains for 15 years and was a sailing instructor in Bayfield, WI for many years. He was a wood carver and enjoyed grouse hunting in the north woods in his Jeep.  It was amazing that he never got lost!    He was also a die-hard Vikings fan no matter what happened in the season.

Wayne taught English and directed plays at Wm. Kelley High School for 34 years retiring (graduating for the 2nd time) in 1999.  Wayne & Jill enjoyed traveling to many wonderful places over the years until the disease put a stop to the life they so enjoyed together.

After his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Wayne joined the Alzheimer’s Study at UW Madison and generously participated in the brain donation part of the study in order to help in the very important research into a cure for this terrible disease.

Wayne was preceded in death by his parents and stepmother, Amy Hansen.

He is survived by his wife Jill, two brothers, Gary (Mary Ann) of Mpls, Lawrence

(Kym) of Weott, CA and a sister, Sandra (Tom) of Zimmerman, MN.

He is also survived by 2 sons, Kyle (YoLawnda) of Alameda CA & Kristofer (Ann) of Madison, WI.  Also surviving are his 3 beautiful granddaughters: Kathryn Juliana, Matilda Amelia & Lily Aryn.  He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and his little buddy, Graci.

The family would like to thank all the wonderful friends whose kind words were so helpful during this most difficult time.  We are also thankful for the support of the North Shore Area Partners, hospice, and would especially like to thank the kind and caring members of the Carefree Living staff who tended to his needs for the last 6 months of his life.

Now the storm is over.

There will be a Celebration of Wayne’s Life at 2 PM on Sat. April 11th at Wm. Kelley Auditorium in Silver Bay.  In lieu of flowers, please direct any memorials to the family for a scholarship that will be set up in Wayne's name.