The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

James “Jim” Ellis Hansen passed away on Sept. 9, 2015, at home surrounded by his family. He was born the third of six children in Waitsburg on May 19, 1921, to Albert and Margaret Leid Hansen, longtime pioneers of the Valley. Jim was a member of the undefeated 1938 and 1939 Waitsburg High School football teams and graduated from high school in 1939. Jim attended two years at Washington State College, where he studied agriculture engineering and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and worked at Ferdinand’s Creamery on campus.

After enlisting in the U.S. Army Engineers in March 1...