Samuel Frank Hanson

Samuel Frank Hanson Of Pocatello died at home Thursday, December 2, 2004. He was born April 9, 1914 in Pocatello, Idaho. Hanson earned a B.A. in Political Science in 1940 from the University of California, Berkeley and began his California journalist career in 1943 as night wire editor, rewrite and war desks for United Press in San Francisco. That same year he married fellow Idahoan, the late Barbara (Bobby) Ferney with whom he had four daughters.

After WWII Hanson worked for the Pocatello Post and Pocatello Tribune, and then several California papers, including the Los Gatos Times-Observer. In 1959 he became a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, and later the education editor, winning numerous awards until his retirement in 1976.

After his divorce from Barbara, Sam returned to Pocatello in 1977 where he attended classes at Idaho State University and then edited two oral histories, became a member of the local arts community (his oil and watercolor paintings of fauvist female nudes hung in coffee shops all over town) and in 1979 married Jean Patterson Swanson.

Hanson is preceded in death by his daughter Sally Jane. He is survived by his wife Jean of Pocatello, her children and grandchildren, his daughters Maja Tregidga of Livingston, MT and her sons Kyle and Loren Keldsen, Karen Huck (Wilbur) of Bend, OR, Elizabeth Williams (Phillip) and their children Meredith and Andrew of Eugene, OR, and his brother Don of Pocatello.

Cremation has been completed by Henderson-Cornelison Funeral Home. A celebration of Sam's life will be held in Pocatello in the summer. For more info, contact Elizabeth (betsy) Williams at lizbethanne6@yahoo.com.