"The Infamous"
John R. Hansen aka "JR"
12-29-47 to 8-11-17
Our devoted father, loving grandfather, and caring brother, John R. Hansen, passed away on August 11, 2017.
If there is one thing that can be said about John's life is that he lived his life to the fullest, and had a lot of fun along the way!
John loved fast cars and drag racing! He even raced a 1970 Dodge Challenger out on the drag strip here in Utah in his younger years. John also enjoyed deer hunting, fishing, camping, and boating. John loved doing things outdoors and shared all these things with his family and friends.
John was also a great marksman, and loved target shooting, a sport his daughter JoAnn and he shared. John's granddaughter Shelby also shared John's love of target shooting and introduced her to the sport when she was just 3 years old. As both girls got better, John custom built rifles for them, each rifle different than the other and designed to JoAnn or Shelby's preferred likes.
A mechanic by trade, John built big, fast, custom engines for his friends, and also built custom guns from scratch using partial gun parts and some leftovers. These too John built for his friends or sometimes sold to his friends and at local gun shows.
John was a man with an answer to any and every question you could ask him. He was a math whiz and could build his own tools for whatever project he was working on, if one did not exist.
John was a proud man, who lived life to the fullest, and always on his terms. Even after a surgery gone wrong in 2000 leaving John wheelchair bound and over 70% paralyzed from the neck down, John still did whatever he wanted, never willing to let his new limitations stop him!
John started racing again, and ordered a new, custom 2013 Dodge Challenger RT. John had this new Challenger supercharged, and with help from a friend, widened the rear wheel-wells so he could get wider tires under the car for better traction. John was building a bigger engine for this car when he passed away.
John was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and at age 4 immigrated to America with his parents on the Queen Mary. John became a U.S. citizen in 1958. In 1968 John was drafted and proudly served in the United States Army until he was honorably discharged in 1973. During John's time in the Army, he married the love of his life, Linda Lee Sissom, and together had their only child, JoAnn Inge Hansen.
Preceding John in death are his parents, Curt R. Hansen and Inge Bomavang (Hansen-Davis), his step-father, Robert E. Davis, his wife of 40 years Linda L. Sissom, his brother-in-law, Dan C. Detmers, his grandparents, as well as many aunts, uncles, and friends.
John sadly leaves behind his only child, JoAnn I. Hansen (Cannon), his only grandchild, Shelby M. Hansen, his younger and only sister, Sue R. Hansen (Detmers) and Sue's two daughters, Nikki and Mimi. John's loss also leaves many close friends behind, and even Bear, JoAnn's black lab, who could always be found sleeping near John, keeping a watchful eye on him, and would eat Cheerios with John during lunch and dinner.
Being such a sad and unexpected tragedy as this is, those of us who were closest to John should try and take some comfort in the fact that after 17 years of unrelenting, constant and unimaginable pain, John is finally pain free, truly happy and at peace.
JoAnn and Shelby would like to personally thank all of John's friends who have come to our aid, and offered us your help, support and love. Thank you just doesn't say enough! We would be lost without all of you! Also thank you to Kramer Family Funeral Home - Landon and Keyten - for everything they have done and for all the time they spent helping us when we had no idea what to do!
JoAnn and Shelby would like to invite everyone to join us at Hope Lutheran Church, located at 2930 West 9000 South, on Saturday, September 30, 2017 at 2pm, to share our love, laughter, memories, and stories about John. We will also have photos and other memorabilia on display.
A memorial service for John will begin at 3pm, we hope you will stay and attend with us.
Please call JoAnn or Shelby if you have any questions. You can also contact Pastor Paul Webber at Hope Lutheran Church with questions or directions at 801-569-1111.
