Neil A. Hansen

Our Dad, Neil, was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on June 17th, 1926. When Neil was 6 months old his family moved to Denver where his father became manager of one of the largest F.W. Woolworth Stores in the United States. Neil had two brothers, Carl, who lives in Sedalia, Colorado with his wife Mary, a brother, Jack, who passed away in 1985 and a sister, Margie, passed way in 2006. He went to Blessed Sacrament School through the 8th grade and then to East High School. When he was 17 years old, he joined the US Navy and served in WW II. After the war he attended Denver University and was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He followed in his Father's footsteps and went to work for F.W. Woolworth Company. In the summer of 1950, he met the love of his life, our mom, Darlene Stroh, and on June 14th, 1952, Neil and Darlene were married and celebrated 60 years of marriage this past June. Whenever the grandkids or anyone would ask our Mom how long they were married she would always say ""60 wonderful years."" She would brag about how young and great Neil looked and she would always say ""he is such a handsome guy"" and he was. Every promotion Neil received was always relocation to a larger store in a different state and another child. Randy, the oldest, was born in Denver and passed away earlier this year. Dana, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, Linda was born in Kalispell, Montana. Chris, the youngest, was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. He always wanted to move back to Colorado and was finally transferred here in 1966. In 1968 he had an opportunity to buy a small business, Ace Kauffman Stamp and Seal Co. so he knew he would never be transferred again. He didn't know anything about the stamp business but he knew he wanted to run his own company. It is one of the oldest companies in Colorado, and one of the oldest stamp company's in the United States. It is still thriving and is owned and operated by our family. Neil retired in 1999. Neil loved cars, and especially sports cars. He carried a picture of his 1st MG in his wallet right alongside the pictures of his children. He loved to sing and was a great singer. He liked Frank Sinatra and Dick Haymes and watching old movies. He enjoyed shopping for clothes, especially shoes. Our Dad always dressed really well. He would get up and put on a dress shirt, khaki slacks and his leather loafers. We tried to get him to wear comfortable athletic shoes after he had Alzheimer's but he would never ever think of wearing them. His doctor even said to him a while back ""you're such a great dresser."" He liked all sports, especially the Bronco's and had season tickets since 1966. He liked his Bronco's. He enjoyed traveling and until the Alzheimer's disease they traveled a lot. They went to Hawaii many times, his favorite place of all. Most of all he loved his family, and spending time with them. We all live close by and we saw him several times every week. He has seven grandchildren. Brittany, Matt, Cody, Joe, Mikey, Jack and Gracie. He had a wonderful life, unfortunately he was stricken with Alzheimer's and it robbed him of so many good years. Even though he lost his memory he was still funny, kind and, most of all, sweet. He was a wonderful husband, father, father-in-law, Grandfather, brother, Uncle and friend. Our Dad lived at home with his loving wife until his death. He was so complimentary and told everyone that Darlene was the best and the one he loved ""the most"". He used to tell her all the time ""we should get married."" Besides the Alzheimer's, Neil had great health and was never sick until two weeks ago before he passed away on Nov. 29th. When the family was with our Dad the last two weeks of his life he would always look at our Mom and say ""there you are, you're the one I love."" He said ""you're a movie star."" The whole family spent every day with him. He would lie in is bed and wave to us and tell us that he loved us. He couldn't remember our names but he knew we were his and that he was safe with us. We're born, we grow, we live, we die. We are blessed to have family and friends. Wherever we go and whatever we do, we know the spirit of Neil is alive in each of us. Everything good already exists within ourselves. Nobody ever dies when there is someone left to remember. When there is no one left to remember it doesn't matter anymore because they are all together again. We will all miss him so much. Please share your memories of Neil and condolences with his family by signing the guestbook.