William G. Hansen, 80, of Richmond, Ill., died peacefully in his home the evening of November 16, 2017.
He was born March 14, 1937 on the first farm south of Hebron on Highway 47 to Lawrence and Hilma (Anderson) Hansen. His family moved to a farm at a Richmond address on Highway 173 when Bill was 9 years old. He attended school in Hebron, Ill., graduating from Alden-Hebron High School in 1955. He was on the junior varsity basketball team when the Hebron Giants won the famous state championship, and was always proud to consider those five winners his friends.
He joined 4-H, where he met life-long friends and participated in many projects, showing animals and winning awards at the McHenry County Fair. Other school activities included baseball, Student Council, yearbook staff and Future Farmers of America as both a member and serving as president. He was junior prom king in 1954.
He attended the University of Illinois where he took short courses in farming practices. He farmed in the area all his life, loving every moment he could spend plowing, planting or harvesting. He worked for his father while he bought his first farm and purchased all the acres he could after that. Posted on his office wall is a saying about land attributed to a native American Sioux: “Behold this and always love it! It is very sacred, and you must treat it as such.” His own favorite statement about land was, “They’re not making any more of it.”
He was a member of the McHenry County Farm Bureau and looked forward to the times he cooked hamburgers at the fair for the Farm Bureau food stand.
He was a Bears and Cubs fan, he bowled with the guys in Zenda for many years, and later with his wife on a couple’s league, The Sunday Happy Mixers, that was mostly farmers.
Bill married Carol Mae Hoffman on Feb. 10, 1973, in Genoa City. Carol survives him. He is also survived by two sons, William L (Sasha Zolnowsky) and their sons, Brady and Cooper of Lakeville, Minn., and Daniel (Cori Svitak) and their sons, Hunter, Max, Levi and Lucas, of Genoa City; a sister, Virginia (Roger) Bottlemy; sister-in-law Carol June Hansen (Tony) DeMarco; brother-in-law David (Susan) Hoffman; four nieces; and eight nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Ardella (Glen) Spooner; and brothers Lawrence Jr. and Richard (Carol) Hansen.
A memorial service celebrating his life will be at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Wonder Lake Bible Church, 7511 Howe Road, Wonder Lake, Ill., with visitation starting at 3:30 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Richmond Rescue Squad or the Richmond Food Pantry.
