Alton Hanson
Father, great-grandfather, architect, musician. Born on Sept. 15, 1918, in Macoun, Sask.; died on Dec. 11, 2015, in Surrey, B.C., of natural causes, aged 97.
My Uncle Alton once said that he was born with a kazoo in his mouth. When telling me about his life he would say, "Don't forget to mention that I was always in a band."
Born on a farm near Macoun, Sask., the eldest of three children, Alton spent some of his early childhood in his father's hometown of Mayville, N.D. By the time he was 8, the family had returned to Saskatchewan, living "down on the prairie" near Bryant until the dust storms and hard times of the 1930s drove them north. It was at family gatherings at his grandmother's house in Macoun that he first learned to play an uncle's harmonica, and his appreciation for music grew.
Alton's father was a grain buyer and the family moved to several small Saskatchewan villages before settling in Lintlaw in 1937. That was where Alton started playing the saxophone, with a six-piece band called the Merrymakers. The group played every Saturday night in Lintlaw or neighbouring towns.
It was on the main street of Lintlaw that Grace Hewlett first caught sight of Alton, and decided he was the man for her. They married in August, 1941, four months after Alton had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a radar technician. Like many couples at that time, the early years of their marriage were marked by the disruptions of the Second World War.
For most of the war, Alton was posted up and down the West Coast. But when V-E Day came in May, 1945, he found himself aboard ship in Halifax harbour waiting to be shipped overseas – the war in Europe was over, but they sent him anyway. While stationed in England, Alton fell in love with a borrowed tenor sax which he played in various military dance bands.
After the war, Alton studied at the University of British Columbia. He started out in engineering but when UBC opened a new school of architecture, he found his calling (he thought engineering might take him away from home a lot, and he had had enough of that during the war). He and Grace settled in Vancouver, where he eventually started his own architecture firm and where they raised their children, Ken and Rhonda.
It was a few years before he had time for music again, so Alton's saxophone found a home under the bed. Fortunately some musical neighbours persuaded him to dust off the instrument and they would go on to perform together for more than 40 years as the Gaslight Band (male members dressed in tuxedos, women in evening gowns), playing big band music.
Along with music, Alton had a great interest in his Norwegian heritage and the history of his family, which grew to include two grandchildren and three great-grandsons. He was an active member of the Sons of Norway, a fraternal organization that promotes Norwegian culture and heritage, and rarely missed a family reunion. Using the blueprint paper that is the hallmark of the architect's profession, he drew up a large family tree, which he shared with relatives. This blueprint became an invaluable basis for further research for many of us.
Alton's enthusiasm, story telling, and kindness is missed by his family, friends and band mates. He played his last gig at his assisted-living residence in Surrey, on New Year's Eve in 2014, at the age of 96.
Marilyn Lappi is Alton's niece.