Steven John Hansen

Steven J. Hansen Steven John Hansen, of Ferndale, died June 3, 2013 at St. Josephs Hospital. He was 74. He was born in Tacoma on June 27, 1938, Steve graduated from Franklin Pierce High School in 1956 and attended Pacific Lutheran University. During seven years in the US Army, he served first as a chaplains assistant, then graduated from the Army Language School in Monterrey CA as a Russian linguist. He was assigned to the NSA, using his linguistic skills as a voice intercept operator in Hokkaido Japan, at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida, and in West Berlin. While serving in Florida, Steve spent his off-duty hours appearing in community theater productions, where he met his wife, Joan, when they were cast opposite each other in a production of Pal Joey. When his military service ended Steve returned to Florida, married Joan in 1968, and went back to college on the GI Bill. He graduated from Florida International University with a degree in theatre, and he and his wife operated a small storefront theater in North Miami, where they staged 25 productions in three years. Between theatre projects, Steve worked as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. Their combined careers took them to roles in dinner theatre productions in Miami Beach and Ft Lauderdale, and in the outdoor drama Cross and Sword in St. Augustine FL where they created The St. George Street Players, an 18th century theatre troupe, translated the works of the 16th century comedian Lope de Rueda, and staged them for 10 years in the citys restoration area. Then they took the show on the road throughout Florida. Steve has written 30 plays, and staged all but two of them. His translations include the one-act plays of Anton Chekhov. Steve and his wife retired to his native Tacoma in 1996, then moved to Ferndale to take a position as resident managers of the U-Haul Self Storage Center on I-5. They retired again after Steve was taken ill in 1996. Steve is survived by his wife, Joan Marie Bucks; his sister Marjorie Watson of Keysport; sister, Carla Miller of Tigard, OR; brother, William Hansen of Federal Way; brother Hillery Hansen of Lewiston, ID; and a nephew, Charles Hansen of Tacoma.

Steven John Hansen

June 27, 1938 - June 3, 2013