Gene Louis Hansen, age 78, of 325 Frosty Valley Road, Danville, died Wednesday, January 21 in Dade City, FL. He was formerly a resident of Mechanicsburg for ten years. Gene was born May 9, 1930 in Mt. Carmel Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, the son of the late Pielgord and Clara (Karnes) Hansen. He graduated high school in 1948, and joined the U.S. Navy. He was in the Yellow Sea off of China when the Korean War began in June 1950. Gene was transferred back to California in May 1952, where he put a new minesweeper into commission through the Panama Canal and in to Charleston, South Carolina. He was discharged from the Navy at Pensacola, FL in mid December 1952. Having served four years, he is credited with 3 years, 1 month, and 27 days of foreign overseas service. He has been awarded the Korean Service Medal, Naval Occupation Medal, China Service Medal, United Nations Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and the Korean War Service Medal. Gene began college at the Ohio State University in January 1953, and was married in September. He graduated from Ohio State University with a BS in Agriculture in August of 1956, and later received his Masters Degree. Gene raised a family of six on a dairy farm in Ohio which they owned until selling in 1968. Gene was employed by USDA Soil Conservation Service in 1968. He was promoted and transferred to Bloomsburg in April 1976. He was the area supervisor to 17 north eastern Pennsylvania counties of USDA staff that primarily focused on stream bank restoration and abandoned mine reclamation. In 1980, He was promoted to Assistant State Conservationist, and transferred to the federal building in Harrisburg. He was in Charge of management and operations for the state wide agency. Gene returned to the Bloomsburg area in 1997 where he built a home at his current residence and wintering in with his wife at their residence in Florida. Gene was preceded in death by his parents, Pielgord and Clara (Karnes) Hansen, and a brother during the Korean War in 1953, Gerald L. Hansen. Survivors include his wife, Wilma Eileen (Harsh) Hansen; five daughters: Sharon Kohler, and her husband, Bill, Botkins, OH; Joyce Rivers, Mechanicsburg; Gwen Spotts, and her husband, Allen, Tamaqua; Jo Ann Johnson, and her husband, Bob, Nescopeck; Wilma Jean Craig, and her husband Scott, Bloomsburg; a son: Jerry Hansen, and his wife Sherry, Chillicothe, OH; nine grandsons, five granddaughters, and four great-grandsons Funeral services will be celebrated Tuesday, January 27, at 10 A.M. from Allen Funeral Home, 745 Market at Eighth St., Bloomsburg with Rev. Tom Fetterolf officiating. Friends will be received at the funeral home Monday, from 6 to 8 P.M. Burial will be in Elan Memorial Park. There will be a combined VFW/Legion group providing Military Honors. Memorial Contributions in Gene's name are suggested to a Charity of your choice.