Don Marinus Hansen

TREMONTON - Don Marinus Hansen, 87, died at his home in Tremonton on February 9, 2011. He was born February 12, 1923, in Mink Creek, Idaho, one of seven children to Marinus Woodruff and Gudren Elizabeth Pukkendal Hansen. Hansen was a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps., serving as a sharpshooter in the Asia-Pacific theater of World War II. He participated in the initial occupation of Majuro Atoll of the Marshall Islands in February 1944. Hansen married Beth White on May 29, 1945, in Garland and the marriage was later solemnized in the Logan LDS Temple. After his honorable discharge in 1945, Hansen went to work as a meat cutter in Lee's Locker in Tremonton. The Hansens moved to Layton from 1946 to 1947 before returning to Tremonton. He founded Hansen Packing Co. in 1954 and ran it until the early 1980s. In 1982 he founded Leatherneck Saddlery. In 1990 he was named a folk master by the state of Utah for his leather work, which was displayed in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park museum during the Utah centennial in 1993. Hansen worked with the Boy Scouts for 25 years with the Lake Bonneville Council and his last post was in its leadership training program. Hansen was president of the MIA in Tremonton's 2nd and 3rd wards. Hansen was the employment specialist for the South Tremonton Stake for 12 years. An accomplished horseman, Hansen was a member of the Box Elder County Mounted Sheriff's Posse from 1950, serving as its chief in the 1970s. He founded the Trail Trotters Riding Club for teen-agers in 1970. Hansen was preceded in death by his wife, his daughter Dawnelle Thompson, his son Carlos A Hansen, two sisters and three brothers. Hansen is survived by daughters Kristine Hansen, of Ogden; Mindee Hansen, of Hong Kong; and Marty Myers, of Lake Tapps, Washington. He is also survived by brother Mack Hansen of Tremonton, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Funeral Services will be held Tuesday, February 15, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. at the Tremonton South Stake Center, 1150 South Tremont Street, Tremonton. Friends may call on Monday from 6:00- 8:00 p.m. at Rogers & Taylor Funeral Home, 111 N. 100 East, Tremonton, and Tuesday from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. at the church prior to the services. Interment will follow in the Tremonton Riverview Cemetery where military honors will be accorded.