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Janis Timothy Hansen

1934 - 2019

BORN

1934

DIED

2019

About

University of Oregon

Janis Hansen Memoriam

In Loving Memory of Janis Timothy Hansen who passed away on March 14, 2019.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Seattle Times on Mar. 14, 2020.

Memories and Condolences
for Janis Hansen

16 Entries

Justin Talmadge

April 11, 2023

I was a student of Tim's between 1993-1997. This was at the latter part of his career and after, I think, a heart bypass surgery and recently quitting smoking. I played baseball at UPS, loved American literature and went to India in 1999. Suffice it to say we had a lot in common! He wrote a letter of reference for me for entrance to the UW Master's in Education program and the college where his sister Nancy was also a professor.

Dennis Lawler

May 4, 2021

Dr. Hanson was a new PhD English professor at Mankato State, Minnesota, in 1965. He inspired me to appreciate the contemporary literature of England and Ireland. He opened my eyes to the writings of Joseph Conrad and William Butler Yeats, as well as to Dylan Thomas and other British writers. Even now --a half century later --I like to recite the verses from "Easter, 1916," by Yeats: "All changed, changed utterly, A terrible beauty is born." and from "Fern Hill" by Thomas: "Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs, About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green, The night above the dingle starry..."

May he rest in peace!
Dennis Joseph Lawler
[email protected]

molly McDonald

March 30, 2020

My heart breaks to read this. I am too late to say goodbye. I just finished writing a book that your father, my beloved professor and English advisor, is a part of. He was instrumental in my maturity as a writer and a student of life. I used to participate in class discussions and literary circles in you family home and have found memories. If anyone in your family is interested, I will share the part of the book referencing your father. It is a funny memory, a turning point if you will. I have had many professors over the years and he was my favorite. I'm sad to know he's gone but I see him in his scribbles, a note written on one of my essays from 1991. I can be reached at [email protected]

Teri Platt

December 9, 2019

I am so saddened to hear of Tim's passing! I was writing my annual Christmas letter to him, a tradition we shared across time, and went to confirm his address online, only to discover instead his obituary. Tim was my advisor at UPS, but he was so much more than that for the reclusive, would-be poet I was back then, struggling to make connections with other students and the world. He was a light during my darkest days and a steadfast friend across space and time. He got me my first writing gig working with his sweet wife, Sharon, down in Olympia. He also entrusted me to help with the recording of veterans' voices for a book he was co-authoring, a trust I deeply cherished. Although we never saw each other upon my graduation, we connected via letters. I learned so much from him, not just about literature but about living life on my own terms, just as he lived his. When I think of him now, what comes to me most is his robust intellect, quick wit and willingness to reach out. The wake of his life rippled far and wide and will reverberate forever in the hearts and minds of those he touched. His presence in my life, always palpable, will live onin quiet hikes through old-growth forests, in verses from Wallace Stevens that pop up when I least expect them, and in lazy afternoons when my mind curls up in the fond memory of his enduring friendship. Rest in peace, old artificer.

Dennis Lawler

September 4, 2019

Dr. Hansen was an excellent English professor at Mankato State College. He inspired me to learn about British Literature, especially that of William Butler Yeats, Joseph Conrad, and Dylan Thomas.
May he rest in peace!
Dennis Joseph Lawler, a former student.

Dennis Lawler

September 4, 2019

Dr. Hanson was a professor at Mandatory State who in 1964 and after inspired me to appreciate the contemporary literature of England and Ireland. He opened my eyes to Joseph Conrad and William Butler Yeats, as well as to Dylan Thomas and other British writers.
May he rest in peace!
Dennis Joseph Lawler

REZA FARZAN

May 29, 2019

May 29, 2019

I saw two birds on a limb this morning
Laughing with the sun.
They reminded me of how
We will one day exit. Hafiz

For weeks, I had been trying to reach Tim, but I never received a response to my emails and his phones were going to a special recorded message. Finally, the other day I called the Seattle Police Department and requested a Welfare Check on Tim.

And this afternoon, I finally found Tim's obituary here. I am sad and devastated beyond belief because I lost my oldest and dearest friend in the entire world.

For 41 years, I stayed in touch with Tim no matter where I had lived. Tim and Sharon always showed me their love and compassion like good parents. When I met Tim on the first week of being a student on the UPS campus, he offered his love and support until the last time I spoke with him in March of this year.

714 N. Stadium Way also became my safe heaven whenever I needed it, whether it was soon after the Mt. Saint Helen eruption, or during the Iranian Revolution when my family's live was in danger. With his never-ending desire to learn and explore, Tim encouraged me to read the Garden of Brave in War, so that I could learn more about my birthplace. He never stopped teaching and guiding me about life, literature, culture and politics; his laughter always complemented any discussion that we had. Tim had so many gifts that I cannot count them here.

I miss my good friend Tim.

As Hafiz reminds us in his poem Birds of Passage,

The Classroom
Surely becomes disarrayed
When the teacher is out of sight

The mind surely becomes disarrayed
When the Teacher is out of sight.

I very much love to attend Tim's memorial service in Tacoma. Please contact me at 917-750-2307 with any information and or updates. I especially love to hear from John Hansen who may remember me. Please accept my condolences. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust.

Mary Felix

May 24, 2019

I wondered why Tim did not open my jacquilawson ecard for Easter... May he rest in peace! He was my Professor of Contemporary Poets at Mankato State. At the end of that summer course he invited our class to a backyard gathering at their house telling us they would be moving to Tacoma, WA. He said he would return our last papers by mail. When I received mine, Tim invited me to correspond with him. Over the years, wherever he and Sharon went, he would write long, intensely interesting letters. I think now that I should have saved them for you. They were a history of a man intensely interested in life and people. I went through a purging of boxes of letters from family and friends when I moved back to Minnesota from Dallas in 2005. As I write this I say goodby - I read his obituary tonight, not knowing he had gone so recently. If any of you have the time, I would love to hear any details of his last days. Mary Felix 952-956-4334 (text too)

Russ Stoddard

May 7, 2019

Wow. Tim will be missed. A fantastic teacher and a friend. And those pickles! First had them with Tim and then later when I did odd jobs for Jan and Bess here in Boise, post graduation, when I didn't have a real job or any direction. So many good memories. He will be missed.

Stuart Allison

May 5, 2019

Tim Hansen was my favorite professor at UPS - and I had many professors that I loved when I was there. But there was something special about the way Tim cared for, respected, and inspired his students. Although Tim was a professor of literature and I teach ecology and botany, he is my main role model for how to teach, for respecting students, always being available to them, and showing them kindness and compassion. Along with teaching me literature and how to read and think truly critically, he also taught me to fly fish. He opened his house to his students and he was absolutely unbeatable at basketball on his driverway, where the driveway sloped down at a steep angle and he knew how to play the angles to his advantage. He also stood for martinis a couple of times at the Harbor Lights. Academia was a different world then and Tim made that world better for all of us.

Stuart Allison, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois

Bill Baarsma

May 4, 2019

What a friend Tim was. He always had my back when it came to faculty rights and due process. We joined together to write the faculty code at Puget Sound. The basic provisions remain in that document to this day. Later, when I joined the Tacoma City Council, Tim accepted my invitation to serve on an important citizens human services advisory board. He was a terrific colleague and a memorable teacher. It was a privilege to have know him over the many years we served together at the University of Puget Sound. He left a true and enduring legacy on campus. My condolences to the family.

Laura F

May 4, 2019

Thank you for the impact you made on my young self as my English 101 prof. You saw something in my writing that I did not see, and gave me a direction I sorely needed, a path I can still follow in times of joy, sorrow and contemplation. Condolences to your family and gratitude for your teaching.

Holly Jones

May 3, 2019

I sure enjoyed listening to him and working with him at the college. What a fun, neat man.

Mary Elizabeth Gillilan

April 16, 2019

Tim gave me a direction when I was lost. Gave me tools when my kit was empty. Saw me when all I saw was cerebral palsy.
Tim and Sharon took me into their home for dinner and to Viet Nam protests. Mentored my poetry.
At the U. of Puget Sound his door was open.
I celebrate our friendship, and the life I live as a mother and grandmother, writer, editor, and teacher. He helped give me that life.
I send love to the Hansen family. Tim was one of a kind.

John Hansen

April 14, 2019

JT -
Best dad and best friend. I'm grateful for every minute we spent together. We will celebrate your life every day.
Give mom a hug for me dude.
Love you pops.
John

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