Obituary of Janice Elizabeth Hansen

SERVICE INFORMATION UPDATE

Obituary of Janice Elizabeth Hansen

September 13, 1944 – July 2, 2023

Janice Elizabeth Hansen passed away peacefully on July 2, 2023 with her children by her side.

Janice was born to Jean and Norman Habing in Vancouver on September 13, 1944. It was a Friday the 13^th, and as such, she always considered those Fridays lucky days rather than unlucky ones. Janice grew up on a farm in Delta (which is hard to imagine actually existed these days) and remained the only child of Jean and Norman until her brother Albert was born in 1952. 

Janice met the love of her life, Harald, while attending the University of British Columbia.  She had been raised in Annieville, a community with many Norwegian immigrants, and so when Harald (a Norwegian immigrant) saw her in the Cafeteria in Fort Camp, they had mutual friends and an immediate connection.  She managed to get the football-playing-business-major to go birdwatching with her and that is when their friends knew it was serious.

Janice and Harald married on September 16, 1967, and spent their first years together in Vancouver and Ottawa before adventuring out to Dawson Creek, BC in the spring of 1975 where their good friends Ian and Myrna Eggertson had recently purchased the Hillcrest Motel in Pouce Coupe.  Janice and Harald first lived in Unit #3 of the Hillcrest Motel before purchasing a quarter section in Arras, where they raised their two children and lived peacefully into old age together. Janice had a passion for family histories and was an active member of the South Peace Historical Society for many years and later the Peace County Roots Group.  She also volunteered her time with the Peace River South Retired Teachers Association and the Better at Home group for seniors.

Janice was a natural born teacher and although she had two degrees from UBC (Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Library Science), she re-educated herself at age 43 through the Alaska Highway Consortium on Teacher Education (AHCOTE) and was part of AHCOTE’s first graduating class.  Janice spent the majority of her career at Devereaux Elementary School teaching grades 3 & 4.  When she retired from teaching in 2007, she reflected upon her career and said that she wasn’t always sure she was a good teacher, but she knew she was a kind teacher.  Those of us left behind know that she was both.

Janice is predeceased by her parents Jean and Norman Habing, her loving husband, Harald Hansen, and grandchild, Lillian Jean Paterson.

Everyone who knew Jan would describe her as kind and gentle and those two words sum her up for the family that mourns her.  Missing her incredibly are her two children, Trevor (Retta Moorman) Hansen, Inge-Jean (Brian Paterson) Hansen, and her grandchildren Hollis, Haakon, Marilee, Eddie and Elisa as well as her brother Al (Barb) Habing and niece and nephew Lana and Ryan.

The family invites you to a Memorial Service that will be held on Thursday, April 18^th, 2024 at 4pm at Devereaux Elementary School. Janice’s ashes will be interred at Brookside Cemetery.

Donations in memory of Janice can be made to “A Simple Leaf”, a Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation program that directly supports the comfort and care of patients at the Cancer Unit at the Dawson Creek and District Hospital (https://dchospitalfoundation.ca/fundraiser-in-hospital/a-simple-leaf/ - money will be pooled to leave a “Loving Legacy” leaf(s) for Janice on the legacy walls in the Cancer Unit).

Very Respectfully, Reynars Funeral Home & Crematorium