Bernell "Nellie" Hansen

Bernell “Nellie” Hansen
He drove a gas truck, fixed tires, built fences, planted flowers and raised five kids.
He was an old school guy who treated others as he would have them treat himself.
He could build anything and fix everything.
If you needed your car battery jumped on a January morning when it was 4 degrees, you could call Nellie. He would be there before it warmed up to 5.
“What do I owe you, Nellie?’’ they’d ask.
That’s not the way it worked; he always picked up the check.
He enjoyed washing a car, mowing a lawn and walking down a Cache Valley road on a perfect autumn afternoon pretending to hunt pheasants.
He had a nickname for everybody. Really, everybody. Noodle, Norman, Runt, Schultz, Muttonhead, Frizzy.
He bowled a 250 game, threw his shoulder out sliding into second base, knew the joy of getting a hole-in-one and taught all those who would listen to cheer for the Yankees.
For the first 40 years of his life he wanted you to think he was a tough guy. Inside, he was generous and humble. For the last 39, he was a pushover. He didn’t meet a grandkid, or a great-grandkid, that went away thinking anything other than grandpa loved ‘em.
Bernell “Nellie’’ Green Hansen was born in Logan on Sept. 23, 1928 and when he died Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008, he left a simple legacy: You could count on him at any time, for anything.
He leaves behind his teen-age sweetheart, Joye Jessop Hansen, his wife of 59 years.
He imparted an indelible example of responsibility and hard work to his five children: Debbie (Gary) Andersen, of Bountiful; Greg (Debby) Hansen, of Tucson; Ron (Carol) Hansen, of Las Vegas; Becky John of Logan; and Mike (Jana) Hansen of Smithfield.
His 18 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren, and his lone surviving sibling, Donna Richardson of Logan already miss him dearly.
He knew virtually everyone who walked through the door at Angie’s the way he used to be on a first-name basis with those at the old Lofthouse Café, Logan Lanes, the Logan Golf and Country Club, the 22nd Ward, among others at the Spudnut, Steed’s Dairy Bar and every auto parts store and car dealership in Logan.
He spent his adult life working many years at Jack’s Tire & Oil; he then owned two car care centers: City Service and Nellie’s Union 76. He sold automobiles for Palmer’s, Wilson’s and Axtell’s, numerous years working for the LDS Church and a bus driver for the LTD. Most recently in his retirement years, he would deliver or retrieve cars from Logan to Salt Lake City, or Logan to Las Vegas, or Logan to anywhere, for Axtell’s and Wilson’s.
His father, Leland, his mother, Rozella, and his siblings Warren, Lois and Vera surely greeted him at the gates of heaven early Tuesday morning. He has earned some down time; for the first time in 79 years, he doesn’t have a faucet to fix or a driveway to shovel, or a car to wash.
The family would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Eric Hooley, Dr. Jeffrey Huffman and the IC units at Logan Regional Hospital and the Intermountain Medical Center.
A viewing for Nellie will be Friday, Feb. 29th from 6-8 p.m. at Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 W. Center Street, and again Saturday, March 1st from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Funeral services will be held at noon Saturday at the mortuary. Internment will follow at the Logan City Cemetery. Condolences and thoughts may be expressed to the family at www.allenmortuaries.net .