JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back

One of the vital links to our Downtown business community is the

dependable mail carrier. Whether you refer to them as mail carriers,

postmen or mailpersons, they are the truly unsung heroes of our town.

This week, we’ll look at one of our early Huntington Beach mail carriers:

Ole Hanson.

Born Ole Nicholas Hanson in January 1887 in the small farming village

of Ulen, Minn., he came from a typical farm family of seven brothers and

sisters.

Hanson’s father moved his family to homestead land in Montana, and

later Hanson and his brother would do the same in the Dakotas.

During World War I, Hanson served in France as part of the American

Expeditionary Force in 1918. Through relatives, Hanson met Alfreeda Dahl,

and on March 22, 1918, the two were married. This union would produce

three children -- Orville, Carol and Viola. It was Alfreeda Hanson who

became fed up with the cold weather and wanted to move to a warmer

locale.

The Hanson family traveled to sunny California in 1920. In 1921, the

family settled in Huntington Beach. Hanson got a job as a letter carrier

at the Huntington Beach post office on April 1, 1922. This was a time

when the postman delivered the mail twice a day with heavy leather bags

slung across their shoulders.

Hanson’s route for most of his postal days included the business

district of Huntington Beach and the town’s eastern section, and if these

miles were added up, they would cover four trips around the world.

During World War II, residents waited anxiously for Hanson to bring

news of their sons stationed in faraway lands, Hanson’s son Orville said.

Over his 28 years as the town’s respected postman, Hanson served under no

less then six different postmasters. Hanson was eligible for retirement

from the post office in 1948, but he continued to walk his route for two

more years until he officially retired from the postal service on March

31, 1950.

Ole and Alfreeda Hanson would continue to live in their home at 813

13th St. for many years. Hanson, a lifelong Lutheran, would go on to help

organize and become a charter member of the Prince of Peace Lutheran

Church in Costa Mesa.

It was on Oct. 14, 1968, that Hanson left us to begin delivering God’s

letters in heaven. * JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime

Huntington Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write

him at P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.