Obituary of Norman Hanson

C Norman Hanson of Newton and Assaria exited this life and went West June 24, 2013. He was preceded in death by his wife, Lois Mae (Heimer). He left behind daughters; Janet Kay and husband Duane Dodson, Crete, Nebraska, Joy Ann and husband Joe Robb, Newton, Kansas, and Jennifer Jo, Lawrence, Kansas, as well as granddaughters Betsy and Caroline Robb, Newton. Born in Salina, Kansas, he was raised on a farm in the Assaria community, and graduated from the Assaria Grade and High Schools, and later graduated from Brown Mackie Business College with a diploma in Business Administration. He later graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in Business and a Master of Business Administration. He also earned a Master of Science from Emporia State University and a Master of Arts from the University of Maryland. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Kansas. His university fraternities were Alpha Kappa Psi (Business), Alpha Psi Omega (Service), Phi Alpha Kappa (Education), and Phi Alpha Delta (Honorary Public Administration). He was employed by The Kansas Power and Light Company, International Harvester Company, and Continental Oil Company prior to entering the Federal Civil Service. He was an assistant Base Manpower Officer, an assistant Base Personnel Officer, and Director of Education Services at Schilling Air Force Base, Salina. The Education Program at the base, under his direction, improved from forty seventh of forty eight bases in The Strategic Air Command to number one. He was also the Civil Service Secretary at the base responsible for recruiting, examining, and hiring civilian employees during his tenure with the Personnel Office. When the base closed he transferred to the General Services Administration, Kansas City, Missouri where he was the Assistant Director of the Regional Training Institute. He was responsible for reorganizing programs and methods. The Institute was rated the number one program in General Services Regional Programs. He was selected as the first Director of Personnel for the Bureau of Radiological Health, Public Health Service, in Washington D.C. Later he was promoted to Deputy Personnel Director of the Bureau of Disease Prevention and Environmental Control, Public Health Service. He was also the Personnel Advisor to the Chief Engineer of the Public Health Service in this period. He was appointed a member of Task Force which was responsible for relocating the Food and Drug Administration from Arlington, Virginia, to Rockville, Maryland. He then became Director of Administration for the Radiation Control Division in the newly established Environmental Protection Agency. He had been appointed to the Task Force which originally organized the Environmental Protection Agency and was responsible for screening employees from the many agencies for transfer to the new organization. He participated in the administrative decisions for the Radiation Control Division and its interface with the Atomic Energy Commission. He served as president of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Society of Personnel Management, the largest chapter of the society having members from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. He was selected by the State of Michigan to work on personnel issues for a federal loan program. However, the State of Kansas had a similar opportunity which he accepted. He chaired a task force established by the Governor and reported to the State Legislature with the charge to evaluate the state civil service system and whose results were deemed by the Federal Civil Service Commission to be one of the best in the nation. Subsequently, he served as the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Administration under Governor Robert Bennett. He also served as a consultant with the National Council of Governments in their government operations analysis in the states of North Dakota and Nevada. He later was one of three appointees of Governor Mike Hayden to organize and staff the newly established Kansas State Lottery. A veteran of World War II, he served on active and reserve duty in The United States Air Force retiring as a Colonel from the Air Force Reserve staff in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He was the Mobilization Assignee to the Chief of the Air Force Reserve Manpower and Programs Division and participated in organizing and establishing reserve Air Force units nationwide. He graduated from the Air Squadron Officers Course, the Air Command and Staff College, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and the Air War College. He was a life member of the Alumni Associations of the University of Kansas and the University of Maryland, the Reserve Officers Association, the Amateur Radio Relay League, the American Philatelic Society, the Kansas State Historical Society, the Masonic Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite, and Shrine. He was a member of the Air Force Association, the Air Force War College Alumni Association, the York Rite and Grotto Masonic Bodies, the Santa Fe Trail Association, the Fort Larned Old Guard, American Society of Public Administration, the American Legion, the Kansas University Jayhawk Society, the National Pony Express Association, the U.S. Cavalry Association, and MENSA. He was active in amateur radio, holding an Extra Class License with the call WØRSD and he earned numerous operating awards as well as belonging to several amateur radio organizations. He was involved in establishing the Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Olney, Maryland and served as the first president of the Church Council. Later he served on executive committees of the St. Johns Lutheran Church in Silver Springs, Maryland. Currently he was a member of the Assaria Lutheran Church. An inveterate traveler and amateur historian, he had visited most of the national parks, revolutionary war and civil war sites, and frontier forts and battlefields, and all the state capitols. He has traveled the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, the Bozeman Trail, and the Pony Express Trail over their entire routes. He was a Volksmarcher and completed 320 events (10km) in twenty-five states. But for all this activity, his greatest love was for his wife and family and he took great pride in their academic and professional careers. Visitation will be Thursday, June 27, from 4-7 pm at Christians Funeral Home, Lindsborg. A Funeral Service will be held at 2:00 pm Friday, June 28, Assaria Lutheran Church, with burial following at Assaria Lutheran Church Cemetery. Memorials may be designated for Assaria Lutheran Church in care of Christians Funeral Home 103 N. Washington, PO Box 386, Lindsborg, KS 67456. Online condolences at www.ChristiansFuneralHome.com