Jim and Geraine Hansen are Pioneers of the Year

WAITSBURG - Jim and Geraine Hansen, Waitsburg's 2014 Pioneers of the Year, reside on a picturesque plot near the top of what their daughter Mary calls "the Hansen version of Walton Mountain." Mary lives just a half-mile up the road; daughter Karen Yager is three miles up; and son Norman lives in the original family homestead on top of Coppei Mountain.

In addition to the mountain-dwellers, the immediate Hansen clan includes daughters Cheryl in Pullman, Jeanette inWalla Walla, and son John in Bellingham.

Jim's Waitsburg family ties hark back to the late 1800's. His great-great maternal grandfather, Robert William Leid Sr., was a stonemason and music teacher in Scotland before emigrating to Canada where he raised his family. His son, Robert Leid, Jr., moved from Canada to Waitsburg and settled in a log cabin atop Coppei Mountain in 1888. There, he and his wife raised three children, including Jim's grandmother, Margaret Leid, who was born in 1890. Margaret, who was born and died in the Coppei Mountain home, graduated from Waitsburg Academy in 1911.

Margaret married Albert Hansen in 1916 and the pair remained atop the mountain where they made a living farming with horses and mules. They eventually purchased a Case combine, pulled by 21 horses, and began the custom harvesting operation that remained in the family for 90 years. Al- bert and Margaret raised six children, with Jim being born in 1921.

Jim went all through school in Waitsburg and graduated with the Class of '24. He played guard in football and, at 93-years-old, is still proud of the fact that "we played two years undefeated - and we even played Wa-Hi back then!" Jim is ambidextrous and remembers pitching left handed in baseball, with his cousin, Roy Leid, catching.

After attending WSU where he studied civil and agricultural engineering, Jim enlisted in the Army and was called to duty in 1943. He served in the 846th Engineer Aviation Battalion building airfields for the Air Force during World War II. During his enlistment Jim spent time in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland and Central Europe.

Jim returned home to help his parents on the ranch and met his wife, Geraine, shortly after. The two met at a dance at the Marcus Whitman hotel, in the same room where they would eventually celebrate their 60th anniversary. They met August 17, 1946 and married January, 1947. "I told her if we were going to get married it would have to be in the winter because I was always busy custom farming," said Jim.

Geraine's French ancestry dates back to 1550. Her ancestors then moved to Canada and eventually North Dakota where her parents met and Geraine and her two siblings were born. During the 1930's Dust Bowl, Geraine's mother announced she was moving west "with or without" her husband. The family moved to Walla Walla and Geraine graduated from St. Vincent Academy in 1941.

At 19, Geraine decided she wanted a job and responded to an ad seeking secretaries and stenographers in Washington D. C. "I borrowed money from my parents for a suitcase, clothes and the train ticket to get out there -- and I paid it all right back. I got paid $1,440 a year," she said. Geraine worked as a secretary for the Department of Interior. After two years, she visited home with the intent to transfer to Los Angeles "but once I got home I never left!" she said. Instead she worked at the Union Pacific Railroad roundhouse in Walla Walla.

Jim & Geraine were married January 8, 1947. Her dress was made of silk cloth that a German soldier had taken from the Japanese Embassy in Rome during World War II. Jim, who didn't smoke, had traded eight packs of cigarettes for it during the war.

The couple spent a year atop Coppei Mountain before the land their current home is situated on came up for sale. They purchased it, raised their six children there, and made a living farming and custom harvesting. Each summer, the home operated almost like a camp. Each harvest, up to twenty-five men stayed in the bunkhouse out back and ate three meals a day at the farm. In the home's basement, a long table filled with chairs still sits alongside the harvest kitchen - a testament to times past. Mary recalls her parents purchasing used restaurant equipment to set up the basement kitchen. All six children paid their way through college working for the farm. "If we weren't driving truck or combine we were washing towels, cleaning toilets or cooking food," said Mary. Jim was still driving combine five years ago at age 88.

But it wasn't all work and no play. Just inside the front door hangs a map dotted with pins marking the 56 countries Jim and Geraine have visited over their years together. Geraine says it began with her wish to go to Hawaii for their anniversary in 1972. Instead, Jim signed up for a tour sponsored by the Washington State Wheat Growers. They were gone an entire month and visited the Phillipines, Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore. "And we did spend three days in Hawaii to rest up on our way back," said Geraine. The couple continued to spend many of their winters traveling in the years that followed.

Geraine joined the Denova Club in 1947 and was active in St. Mark's Altar Society and the Dixie Bells. She got her first Mac computer in 1984, when they first came out, and takes pride in the booklets she makes for each of the organizations she is involved in. Jim has been active in American Legion Post #35 since he returned from the war, and has served as Commander. Both look forward to sharing and celebrating their hometown history with the community at this year's Pioneer Fall Festival on September 21.