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Show represent any special interests, other than to fairly and honestly represent the citizens who may elect them. Over the years, Orem residents have been fortunate in electing outstanding people to represent them. I have become well-acquainted with many of them and consider them to be my friends. . V. EMIL HANSEN Probably no one who has served as Mayor of Orem, knew more about the inner-workings of the City of Orem, than did V. Emil Hansen, who was first appointed Orem's Town Clerk, back in 1932, during the administration of Orem's third Mayor, Ivan J. Burr. He served under three Orem Mayors for a total of 14 years, retiring from that position in 1946. Bern in Logan, Utah, at the turn of the Century, where his parents, both immigrants from Denmark, had begun their marriage, V. Emil Hansen began to work with his father in the painting trade. The family moved to Rexberg, Idaho, where Emil graduated from Ricks College and married Ida Ramseyer. Emil worked as a clerk in the Rexberg Post Office for a time, before the couple moved to Provo, Utah with their two daughters, Ruth and Esther. Employed, painting furniture at the old Taylor's Department Store in Provo, Emil Hansen designed and built a home in west Provo. After the arrival of two more children in the family, Gordon and Russell, the Hansens traded their equity in the Provo home toward the purchase of a small fruit farm in Orem, where they might also raise chickens and sell eggs. But, like his father in Idaho, Emil discovered that, despite hard work, there were many risks inherent in agriculture. He had hoped that fruit trees and chickens would provide a livelihood and pay the mortgage. But an infection wiped out his chicken flock, causing him to lose his home. The Hansens, now joined by Geraldine, who rounded out their family of five children, moved into a small home on 500 South State Street in Orem. Some time later, John Fowers, a successful citizen of Orem, loaned the Hansens money to tear down an old packing shed at 262 South State Street, and build a home there, which Emil designed and erected with the lumber from the old packing shed. Following the Orem Town elections in 1932 in which Ivan J. Burr was elected Mayor, V, Emil Hansen was appointed Town Clerk, beginning a long period of service in that position, as well as that of Orem City Recorder. Since the Town of Orem did not own a municipal building at that time, Emil Hansen obtained a large desk and placed it in one corner of his home. That desk served as the official city office, where he did his city record-keeping, as well as for collecting payments on culinary water service from the public. His office remained there for five years, until 1938, when he moved it into the new Town Hall which was established in the center of town. Ever the hard-worker, Emil Hansen, for many years, also plied his trade as an interior decorator. I first met Emil Hansen, when I was 10 years old, and he was redecorating the lower floor in the home of Wilford and Edna Larsen, with whom I visited, during the summers. I had played, outside, with his sons, Gordon and Russell Hansen, and, now, here was their father, Emil, hanging wallpaper in my uncle's home! I was fascinated at how he worked, standing on wooden planks, held up by sawhorses. I imagined that this wallpaper must be some new kind of fancy paper that had been already decorated, and now had to be glued onto the walls. I will never forget that time, remembering how patiently Emil Hansen explained to me and showed me how wallpaper was hung, and why. That recollection, in later years, was invaluable to me, as I attempted hanging some wallpaper in our new home in 1951. While serving as Orem City Recorder, Emil Hansen also found the time to do the painting and decorating of the new SCERA Theater, prior to its opening on September 5, 1941. He continued serving as City Recorder, during World War II, and left that position in 1946. With burgeoning home construction in Orem after the war, Emil was sometimes inundated with interior decorating work in the community. He, personally, painted all the homes that were built by Woodruff and Moroni Jensen in their Sunset Vista housing development. With his community interests never far from Orem City, Emil Hansen was elected to the Orem City While serving as Orem City Recorder, Emil Hansen found the time to do the painting and decorating of the new SCERA Theater, prior to its completion and opening Sept 1, 1941. Page 47 |