Most of Dean Hansen’s 87 years on earth have involved a lot of hard work, and much of that work has been service to Baldwin County.

He was born on a dairy and hog farm in Nebraska in 1925, the youngest of eight children. Starting at age 7, Hansen learned to expertly milk a cow, a skill that came in handy years later at a 1993 goat-milking contest in Foley, where he not only won first place, but also coaxed out more milk from the goat than all of the other contestants combined.

In the late 1930s, drought and grasshoppers began to make farming in Nebraska difficult for the Hansens. The family scouted for land all over the country until they heard about a beautiful county in south Alabama.

Dec. 1, 1937, when Hansen was 12, the family packed up their belongings, four heifers and five hogs and drove more than 1,300 miles to start over on 80 acres of property in Foley.

After graduating from Foley High School in 1942, Hansen moved to Auburn to study civil engineering at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

But in the spring of 1943, two quarters into his studies, Hansen decided to enlist in the Air Force. He was turned down because of a heart murmur, but after volunteering for the draft, he was accepted into the army and assigned to the 97^th infantry, a field artillery unit.

“I was thinking he was going to turn me down, and I could go back home and go back to Auburn,” Hansen said, remembering the Army’s physical examination. “But he says, ‘You know, son, I don’t hear a thing. Get in that line over there.’”

Hansen ended up serving almost three years in the army—including 15 months in combat in Europe and another 9 months in Japan after the war was over.

After his military service, Hansen went back to Auburn on the GI Bill, changed his major to agricultural engineering and graduated in August of 1949. He then moved back to Baldwin County and helped his father open Foley Tractor Company, which Hansen owned and operated until 1992. After selling the tractor business, he opened Sun Coast Builders with Steve Bailey and worked until his retirement in 2001.

In 1952, Hansen helped found the Foley Kiwanis Club, which he is still an active member of today. He is the only charter member of the club still living. Around the time of the 60^th anniversary of the Foley Kiwanis Club this past summer, the City of Foley sent out a proclamation declaring Aug. 17 “Dean Hansen Day” to honor his many years of service with the club.

“He’s just such a great person for the community—he’s everybody’s friend,” said Donna Blankenship-Tindall, a member of the Foley Kiwanis Club. “I’m fairly new in Kiwanis, but I sit with him every time, and he’s just an inspiration to everybody.”

Hansen said Kiwanis meetings were never a chore.

“It wasn’t a duty,” he said. “I looked forward to going there and spending some time in conversation with friends. I wasn’t trying to hit the 60-year mark or anything; it just happened that way. And I guess I’ll continue to attend for 10 more years.”

Hansen also served a total of 20 years in city and county government. He was a member of the Foley City Council from 1960 to 1972, and in November of 1992, Hansen was elected to the Baldwin County Commission.

The same day he won the election, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Dec. 2, 1992, he had surgery to have the cancer removed, and his prognosis was good.

But he had to stay in the hospital longer than expected, and Dec. 27, a district judge showed up and told him he needed to be sworn in for the county commission before the first of the year

“So I got out of bed, and I stood there with my hand on the Bible, and all the sudden, there was a flash in my face,” Hansen said, laughing. “The Foley Onlooker was there, and they took my picture, and a few days later, my wife came in with the Onlooker, and there on the front page—right in the center—there I was with my hand on the Bible being sworn in in my hospital gown.”

Hansen served on the County Commission until 2001.

Even Hansen’s favorite hobby was a service to Baldwin County—announcing the Foley High School football games for more than 50 years.

His announcing career began in the late 1940s, when he and two other men would squeeze into the cab of a pickup truck that had been mounted on stilts on the north side of the stadium.

“The announcers had to climb up into the cab,” he said. “It was tight up there, but that’s the way we announced it in those days.”

In the early 2000s, Hansen was diagnosed with myopic degeneration. He is legally blind and cannot drive, but he still attends Kiwanis meetings and spends time with friends.

He said since his diagnosis, he has devoted more time to seeking God and attending church at Morgan’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Bon Secour.

“I find that any time I can get to church, I enjoy doing it,” he said. “I’m finding myself watching the Trinity Broadcasting Network more than I watch anything else on television—especially Billy Graham on Wednesday nights.”

Hansen said he has always just wanted the best for Baldwin County, and that’s why he spent most of his life serving the community.

“I just liked to help the county move forward in any way I could,” Hansen said. “I think Baldwin County is probably one of the nicest places to live in the whole country.”