Tom Hansen’s Memorial Page

Eulogy

Hello and thank, you all for coming.

Tom didn’t want a church service, he really didn’t want a funeral at all. He just wanted people who cared about him, to get together and enjoy some food and drink while thinking of the good times. He would be very happy to see all of you here. So, thank you for being here.

Tom was born Feb 23rd, 1959 at Mercy Hospital to Lloyd and Felicia Hansen.

They lived in a small granny flat off of Felicia’s parent’s house in Bonita.

Tom went to catholic school when he was little. He was head altar boy and he wanted to be a priest when he grew up. Yep, you read that right. <3

Later, he left catholic school and went on to Hill Top High School, where he graduated a semester early, in 1976.

Tom wasn’t much into sports, but he was very into dirt bikes. He had three wheelers before anyone else did and he used to love to ride them at 24th street.

From a young age, Tom was very industrious, he got his first job when he was 15, at a clothing store called “The Highlander”. He worked there for a few years until he got a job at Rohr. Where he was a router operator machinist working on the Apache helicopter. Over the years, he also worked at Teledyne, and Dynabell.

When Tom was 16, His father remarried , and he gained 3 siblings, a step mother and later, a half sister.

Those first few years, Tom and his stepsisters hung out quite a bit and became really close. He was an instant big brother and he took that very seriously. Soon, Tom got his driver’s license and was given a little red Toyota truck.

Oh man! It was really great to have a big brother who could drive. My best friend Bernie and I, took full advantage of it, by talking Tom into driving while we laid in the back of the truck, he would pull up alongside some of our rivals and we’d pop up and egg them and then take off.

We really elevated our game and It’s a wonder, we never got into trouble.
Tom was fiercely protective over his new sisters too, even getting into fights when he thought we were being disrespected. So much so, that we had to ask him to not fight, unless we were truly not okay.

We weren’t the Brady bunch but we had some good times.

Tom met his wife Christine in 1978. On their first date, they went to Presidio park. It was double date with Tom’s best friend and Christine’s best friend. Unfortunately for Tom, it didn’t go very well. You see he locked the keys in the car and he had to break the window to get back into the car. This did not impress Christine.

It wasn’t until later, that he would realize he broke the most expensive window on the car. He didn’t want to pay to that much money to have it fixed so he drove the car around for the next 3 years with a broken window until he finally sold it.

Christine and Tom dated for two years before marrying. They went on to have 3 kids, Tami, Michael, and Shay.

When Christine was in labor with Tami, Tom was supposed to watch the monitor to see if she was having contractions. Christine told Tom she was having a big one, and she was in pain, Tom looked at the monitor and said, “No you’re not”. Tom didn’t know the machine was broken. Needless to say, that didn’t go as well as it could have but our beautiful Tami was born any way.

Michael was born two years later, and I hear that went a little smoother. From the moment Michael was born, Tami and Michael were and are the closest of siblings. They are so close, you would think they were twins.

Tom and Christine loved their little family and even though they divorced after a few years of marriage, they remained an extremely close family. Later in life, they even lived right next to each other and were in each other’s daily life, and it stayed that way up until Tom’s death. It didn’t matter that they were divorced, they were a close nit family and Christine was there to help take care of him to the end.

Tom and the family are full of inside jokes and startling each other, is a national past time in this family. So much so, that on a road trip to Arizona, Tom was driving and the car began to go off the road. Thinking Tom was messing with her, Tami didn’t react, she just laughed until she saw Tom jerk awake, as he barely regained control of the car before they crashed.

Tom was a pretty decent mechanic which was fortunate because Tami’s car was always breaking down and she’d bring it to her Dad to fix. Tom would work Tami’s car all night long, so Tami would have it to drive to work in the morning.

Tom’s third child Shay, was born 13 years after Michael and she was the definitely Daddy’s little Angel.

Tom was always working on his own cars too, and while he did, he would let baby Shay play in the front seat. Even though, on more than one occasion Shay accidentally popped the car into neutral. Finally, that all came to an end when Shay knocked it out of gear once again. Tom could be seen trying to hold the car from getting away, as he worked his way down the side of the car, to the front, so he could hop in and stop it. This was neck and neck but Tom managed to stop the car before it hit anything.

Tom was a very generous person too, especially when it came to kids. He was the guy that would spend 60 bucks at the ice cream truck, because he’d buy his kids and all the neighborhood kids, not one, not two, but three things each.

Tom loved dogs and he is survived by his beloved dog, Jewels! She was the apple of his eye.

Tom took care of his Mom and also his grandfather until they passed and His kids and Christine, took care of him until he passed.

Back in June of last year, Tom went into the hospital near death. His heart and lungs were failing him and they told him he needed a transplant. Tom refused the transplant because he said he wouldn’t take it from someone who deserved it more. He was adamant about it.
They told him without it, he would die. Tom said all he wanted to do was go home to be with his family and his Sweet Dog Jewels.

When Tom left the hospital, doctors told him he wouldn’t make it past 4 days. Tom responded “If I get 4 more days with my family, it will be like winning the lottery”

Besides, if you know Tom, you know that was “Challenge Excepted” !
Tom lived almost 8 more months, before dying on Feb 13th just ten days before his next birthday.

And for his family, those eight months were such a blessing, we all got to spend quality time with him and we are very grateful for it. I’d say we all won the lottery.

Tom is survived by Christine and all three of their children, Two wonderful Grandsons, Dustin and Derek, and his son-in-law, Jason.

In the end, Tom got his ultimate wish, he got to die at home with his family. And if you could ask him, I’m sure he’d tell you that was perfect, because Family and friends were all he ever really cared about.

Rest in Peace my dear big brother, until we all meet again.