Carl A. Hansen

HANSEN, Carl A. 75, passed away Tuesday, March 7, 2017. He was a resident of New Port Richey, Florida.

Carl was born on December 17, 1941 to parents, William Hansen and Vera ‘Markey’ Hansen in Livonia, Michigan. He lived there for his childhood and went to Bentley High School where he graduated in 1959 as Co-Salutatorian of his class. He then went on to General Motors Institute (GMI) and graduated as Salutatorian with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in 1965. He attended the University of Michigan (UM) concurrently with GMI and graduated as Valedictorian with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in 1964 and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1965.

Carl met the love of his life, Carol Mallen, on December 23, 1961 while attending a party at her house hosted by Carol’s brother, Robert Mallen. The connection was instant and Carl and Carol started dating a week later, attended the University of Michigan together, and were married in Livonia three years later on August 15, 1964.

Upon graduation, Carl began his career at General Motors. Carl and Carol had two children while living in Livonia, Susan ‘Sue’ Carol (February 13, 1968) and Michael ‘Mike’ Carl (January 1, 1970). Carl began to take on more challenging positions with several companies over the next several years moving his family to Illinois, Indiana, Georgia and finally Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1976.

Carl started his first business, Tabco, Inc. while in Tennessee which he named after his favorite diet beverage at the time. Tabco created large industrial equipment he designed and built which was used in the manufacture of railroad ties. Carl and Carol’s third child, Rebecca ‘Becky’ Jean (January 30, 1977) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Carl and Carol moved to Hudson, Florida in December 1981. In Florida, Carl continued the path of the entrepreneur and started Viking Engineering, Inc. He named his second company after his father’s Danish ancestry (Viking) and his three engineering degrees. Carl designed pressure washers, line stripers, and pest control equipment which was manufactured in one of the three manufacturing locations in Florida (Tarpon Springs, Delray Beach, and Orlando). Carl later sold Viking Engineering in the early nineties and started his ‘retirement’ business, Dog Lovers, Inc.

Carl had been a dog lover his entire life, but for his 50th birthday in 1991, he received his first Great Dane, Viki (short for Viking Princess). Carl fell in love with the breed and when trying to determine a theme for his next business decided a company which would support breed specific gifts and supplies for all dogs would be a fun business to run. Carl ran Dog Lovers, Inc. through the end of the nineties and then sold the business to truly ‘retire’.

Carl kept his hand in other side businesses for the next several years, but truly retired when he found a new passion, ToyMakers. ToyMakers, a group of wonderful retired folks who make toys for sick and needy children, was the retirement Carl was meant for. Carl’s favorite holiday had always been Christmas, and he certainly acted the part of Santa to his family, business staff, and others, but when Carl found out about ToyMakers, a true match was made. Carl soon worked with the other wonderful volunteers within the organization, eventually taking on the role of Treasurer, and worked from that point on to make ToyMakers a household name. He’s been on numerous TV spots, has presented to hundreds, and attended an untold number of ToyMakers events over the years. Carl would wear his ToyMakers shirts whenever he was out and would be glad to talk to anyone about the great work the ToyMakers organization did each and every day. But the most important aspect of Carl’s work with ToyMakers was to see the smiles on the children’s faces when they received the handmade toys.

Carl has had a wonderful professional career, but the thing he will always be remembered for is being an amazing husband, father, grandfather, and friend. Someone said once that Carl is a stranger to no one, and this is so true. But his love for his wife and family is truly where his heart has always been. Despite his full career, he always made time to do the meaningful things with the family be it carving pumpkins, helping with science fair projects, taking vacations, or playing games. He was a man that would do anything for anyone in his family, and truly enjoyed being close to his children, and especially to his eight wonderful grandchildren. His first seven grandchildren were all girls (Samantha, Miranda, Sabrina, Erika, Paige, Cassie, and Olivia), and they all had grandpa wrapped around their fingers. His last grandchild (Hansen) was a boy who is the spitting image of Carl and was named in honor of him.

Carl leaves a wonderful legacy of love and family and will be forever missed, but also will be forever loved as he truly lives in all those he has left behind.