Jan M. Hansen

Portsmouth, New Hampshire – Jan M. Hansen, formerly of Eliot, ME, passed away after a long battle
with Alzheimer’s Disease on September 6. He was 84 years old. He was the son of the late William
Hansen and Cyrene Putnam. He was a resident of Eliot, ME for 20 years in what he considered his
dream house, overlooking Spinney Creek.

Jan was born on August 16, 1939 in Chicago, IL. He was mostly raised by his grandparents, Glenn and
Grace Sponamore, in Basco, IL. Jan met the love of his life in high school, Dorothy Trautvetter Hansen
and they were married when he was 20 years old and she was 18. They were married for over 50 years
and have remained very close ever since.

Raised as an only child, Jan had a fairly quiet childhood. He enjoyed watching sports more than
participating and did some statistician work for sports teams while in high school. As an adult, he loved
taking his knowledge of sports to coach both of his children as they grew up. It was also in his youth
that he particularly enjoyed hanging out at train stations, watching the trains and the passengers come
and go. This love of trains led to spending a lot of time in his adult life collecting model trains and train
accessories, ultimately being part of a massive layout that he commissioned to be built in his basement.
Beyond his enjoyment of trains, most of his adult life involved his love of acting and singing. He
performed in one of his favorite plays, “1776” in two different casts. He loved singing at church and in
other singing groups, like the “Bow Tie Guys” in York, ME.

Jan graduated high school, but he wasn’t able to attend college, something that he always regretted.
Not having gone to college, he pushed both of his children to do so, both of which not only graduated
college, but also achieved their master’s degrees. He was always proud of this. Jan did go to traffic
school after high school, which led to his career in logistics and purchasing. He worked for a few
companies, but the bulk of his career was spent working for two companies. One was W.R. Grace in
multiple locations, one of which was in Lausanne, Switzerland. The other was the company he retired
from, A.W. Chesterton in Groveland, MA. Jan loved working, particularly enjoying the people he was
working with and the pride of his achievements. When he retired, he enjoyed volunteering his time for
others and he took a lot of pride in this as well.

Jan is survived by Dorothy Trautvetter Hansen, his wife of over 50 years. He’s also survived by his son
Steven Hansen of North Reading, MA, his wife Anne Hansen, their children, his grandchildren Rebecca
and Erik Hansen and Rebecca’s fiancé Mark Tomasovic. Additionally, he’s survived by his daughter Julie

Balch of Kenosha, WI, her husband Gareth Balch, their children and his grandchildren Molly, Alyssa and
Kyra Balch.

In lieu of flowers,  please make a contribution to the Alzheimer’s Association.