Douglas Randolph Hansen

Douglas “Doug” Randolph Hansen of Williamsburg, Virginia died of complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm on January 29, 2020 at age 75. He was a very special grandfather to Rylie Hansen, JT Eden, Luc Eden, and Sawyer Hansen, a great dad to Eric Hansen and Kathryn Hansen Eden, better-than-average father-in-law to Greg Eden and Shelby Hansen, best friend to his wife of 53 years, Helen Fox Hansen, and devoted son to his mother Joy Smith Hansen and late father Donald Hansen. He mixed a mean Old Fashioned, told many jokes (some funny), laughed easily, loved fiercely and will be missed terribly by many. Doug was the first-born New Year’s baby in Watertown, South Dakota on January 1, 1945 and spent his early years in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Michigan. He served in the Navy reserves for six years and graduated with an electrical engineering degree from Michigan Technological University in 1971. He had a 25-year career in the oil business working for J. Ray McDermott, Petro Marine, and Mobile Oil Corporation with stints in Detroit, New Orleans, Denver, New York, Oklahoma, Houston, and Dallas along with business travel adventures around the world. In those same years he was an involved dad who taught his two kids to dream big, to work hard, to play cards, to practice good manners (even when it wasn’t in fashion) and to sing along to Joni Mitchell songs (no matter where you were when you heard them). In 2001 he began living his dream when he was able to talk Helen into trading their house for a boat. Doug sailed their new catamaran from France to Galveston, Texas even though he had never before sailed a boat out of sight of land. Doug and Helen went on to spend four years exploring the Bahamas and the east coast of the U.S. in the Morning Glory before settling down to join his parents in Williamsburg. There, Doug became an active member of the Brandon Woods Homeowners Association, Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists, and Williamsburg Indivisible Group. In his last years, he loved exploring the Chesapeake and tributary rivers in a smaller sailboat, hiking, taking car trips, volunteering for organizations working for social justice, reading from his library of biography and history books, enjoying a good nap, and spending time with friends and family, especially his four grandchildren who were at least as crazy about their Appa as he was about each of them. He shared these years with the love of his life Helen whom he met when he was in 11th grade, she in 9th. They were true companions who enjoyed sharing all life’s adventures, great and small, together. Helen, Eric and Kathryn wish to send their most heartfelt thanks to the doctors, nurses and staff of Sentara Heart Hospital’s Vascular ICU unit in Norfolk, VA who provided not only excellent medical care to Doug, but also incredible kindness, compassion and professionalism to our family. A Celebration of Life service will be held at Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists 3051 Ironbound Rd. Sunday, February 16 at 3:00 pm with a reception to follow. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to make a memorial contribution to Williamsburg Unitarian Universalist Endowment Fund , Southern Poverty Law Center, or Stanford Medicine (with a designation to Dalman Research Lab), to support researchers working hard to make loss from rAAA a thing of the past. The family also encourages all to honor Doug with a gift of blood to American Red Cross Blood Bank, getting yourself screened for aortic aneurysm, and/or writing or calling your Congressional representatives about an issue you care about.