Peter Bernt Hanson

Written by grandson Bernt Hanson

Peter Bernt Hanson passed away peacefully surrounded by family at the Southwest Integrated Healthcare Facility in Maple Creek on July 8, 2025 at the age of 86.

Pete was born in Shaunavon on June 27, 1939. He was the sixth and final child of Dollard farmers Peter and Elena Hanson. His father passed away suddenly not long after his birth, and his mother was left to raise her children Bernice, Bud, Floyd, Glenn, Sid, and Pete by herself. With the help of her siblings Nels and Ellen, Elena maintained the family farm. She often fed local oil crews at the family table to help make ends meet. The Hanson family were raised in a house full of love, faith, and music – a gift they would go on to share with the community for decades.

Pete and his siblings were educated at Brownville School and were active members of the White Valley Lutheran Church. Pete later attended LCBI in Outlook and Eastend School, before dropping out (as he often said, once football season was over). After working for local farmers for a while, Pete and Sid packed their cowboy hats and headed off for adventure in the Rocky Mountains. The brothers found work at the Brewster Mountain Pack Train, guiding tourists on horseback into the mountains for camping expeditions, and entertaining them with their music. These were fond memories for Pete.

Pete married Anne Stewart in 1963, and in the following years there three children Jamie, Roy, and Karen rounded out the family. Pete and Anne moved to the Agricultural Research Station at OneFour Alberta, wherein time he became the manager. He and Anne raised their family for fourteen years in the small government community built to support the station. Pete and Anne met many of their lifelong friends living at the station and maintained their station connection for all the decades after. Pete continued to share his music, with the band the Kee of Cee alongside Marylin and Graham Ross and his sons Jamie and Roy. The band played dances nearly every weekend.  

Pete and Anne were always close with their married brother and sister John and Bernice Stewart, and the kids grew up like a pack of siblings. In 1978 the family moved to Maple Creek, across the road from John and Bernice, and Pete ranched and worked as a brand inspector. In 1981, Pete purchased the Louis Bethel ranch north of Eastend. Pete continued to brand inspect and ranched in the Cypress Hills with his son Jamie for the remainder of his days.

Pete said that his music, especially singing at funerals, was his service he provided to the community. With his brothers Glenn, Floyd, and Sid, he sang with the Hanson Family gospel quartet for decades, accompanied by sister Bernice and later Lynda Udal. The family recorded two albums, one in the early 1980s and a second in 2009. Their music is now available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Music, which is quite something for five kids raised in the dustbowl of the thirties. In the early 1980s, Pete and Sid collaborated with Doreen Burles on a collection of cowboy songs called Buffalo Trails. The Hanson Family performed at countless funerals and events like The Frenchman River Valley Gospel Jamboree. According to a local funeral director, requests to have them sing still come to this day.

Pete, Floyd, and Sid played music with Wilkes Parsonage and Don Hanchar for many years as well. This was a highlight for all the men in their later years, and they played many shop parties and house parties, as well as at the Spring Valley Guest Ranch.

Pete was an artist, a sculptor and painter, a creative problem solver, a gardener, card player, and a devoted attendee of farm auctions. He was a rancher, a brand inspector, fisherman, and friend to many. He was a husband, father, uncle, cousin, and grandpa whom the entire Hanson family relied on. He was a man of great principle, of upstanding morals, goodness, and kindness. No matter what befell his friends, family, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and neighbours, he was the first to reach out a hand to be of service. Family came first, above all. His steadfastness and generosity will stay with the countless people he helped through their lives.

When his mother Elena was suffering from dementia, he wrote a song for her called Memories. The chorus goes, Dreams are for a young world, that’s how it’s meant to be. When you’re walking down that twilight trail, thank God for memories”. Now that he’s made it to the end of that twilight trail, we, his family, and all who knew him are grateful for our memories. I am so grateful to him, not only for being the best of grandfathers, but the greatest role model a young man could have. Like the Willie Nelson song says, my heroes have always been cowboys, and mine was my Grandpa Pete.

Pete is survived by his wife of 61 years, Anne, brother Sid, sister-in-law Enid, children Jamie (Marie), Roy (Heike), and Karen (Harley), grandchildren Jannis (Jaden), Bernt, Julia (Nathan), and Lauren (Nick), and great grandchildren Raylee and Vince, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, friends, and neighbours.

Pete is predeceased by his parents Peter and Elena, his siblings Bernice, Bud, Glenn, and Floyd, and siblings in - law John, Winnie, Pat, and Mary.

The family will be holding a memorial at a later date.

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