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Tor Hansen

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Tor Hansen
Born1921-09-20
Oslo, Norway
Died2016-07-25
Partner

Tor Hansen (20 September 1921 – 25 July 2016) was a Fort William and Thunder Bay display designer and a co-founder, with his brother Knute, of the Little Norway ski hill that became Big Thunder.[1]

Skiing

In the early 1960s, with his brother Knute, Tor established the Little Norway ski hill on Mount McRae, intended as a training centre for downhill skiers and jumpers; the site later became the Big Thunder ski jumps.[2][3] He was the father, by his first wife June, of the theatre director Kim Hansen, born in Fort William in 1953 to June and Tor Hansen.[4] See also History of skiing in Thunder Bay.

Tor's interest in skiing began early, when he joined his brothers in ski jumping "with an eye toward competitive ski jumping"; service as a gun layer in the Second World War ended that ambition.[1] In 1995 he served as a local ambassador for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships held at Big Thunder.[1] See also Big Thunder National Training Center.

Chapples and the Santa Claus show

After his army discharge, Tor worked in the display department of the Chapples department store. According to his obituary, he "facilitated the annual Santa Claus show, working as a designer and decorator, as well as performing as Mister Chris".[1] The Fort William Daily Times-Journal index lists photographs of Tor with the Chapples Santa Claus show on 3 December 1954 (p. 17), 22 November 1956 (p. 10) and 28 November 1957 (p. 17).[5][6] The 22 November 1956 promotional photograph is indexed under both Tor Hansen and the dance teacher Sylvia Horn ("Horne, Sylvia"). Horn's obituary says she "created and put on the Chapples Santa Claus Show which was held annually at the Fort William Gardens".[6][7]

Family

  • Born in Oslo, Norway, to Sigrid and Harald Hansen; came to Canada with his family at the age of six and grew up in Fort William.[1] His parents were Harald Hansen (c. 1889–1964) and Sigrid Hansen (née Mork, c. 1890–1969).[8]
  • Brother of Knute (1915–1988), Arne (1911–1983), Erling and Esther Mackereth; Margaret Hansen, Knute's widow, named Tor as her brother-in-law.[9]
  • First marriage: married June Rose Shedden in Fort William on 22 January 1947.[10][11]
  • Son: the actor and director Kim Hansen (1953–2019) was the son of Tor and June. The Fort William Daily Times-Journal announced his birth on 28 August 1953 to "T. + June (nee Shedden)" Hansen,[5] and Kim's own obituary says he was born in Fort William on 28 August 1953 "to the late June and Tor Hansen".[4]
  • Second marriage: married Maureen McMillan ("Moe"), whom he met through the Lakehead Choral Group, in 1974.[1]
  • Children: Kim is the only child of Tor's who has been documented. No other birth to Tor and June appears in the Fort William Daily Times-Journal social-notices indexes for 1947–1965, and no child of the second marriage is recorded.[12][5][6][13]
  • Tor's 2016 obituary names his wife Maureen and a grandson, Nils, as survivors, with "numerous cousins, nieces and nephews from both the Hansen and McMillan families". It does not mention Kim or June. Kim's 2019 obituary describes him as "a father" but names no child, and no published source names Nils's parent.[1][4]
  • He is buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens (headstone "Tor 1921 – 2016").[14]

In the Fort William papers

The Thunder Bay Public Library's index of the Fort William Daily Times-Journal records:

  • 6 March 1944, p. 1: Lance Bombardier Tor Hansen wounded (Second World War).[12]
  • 3 December 1954, 22 November 1956 and 28 November 1957: photographs of Tor Hansen with the Chapples Santa Claus show (the 1956 photograph also with Sylvia Horn; see above).[5][6]
  • 11 May 1961, p. 3: the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition names Tor Hansen promotion manager.[13]
  • 3 October 1962, p. 1: photograph, beard-growing contest promotion.[13]

Thunder Bay Museum material (October 2026)

"'Little Norway' In Operation", Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 28 February 1964.
  • 1962: As "Thor Hansen", he sat on the executive of the Canadian junior ski championships hosted by the Port Arthur Ski Club at Mount Baldy on 23–25 February 1962. He wrote that Baldy's Hornet and Vertical runs were "tricky" and predicted local juniors would win the downhill.[15]
  • 1963–64: A 1963 sports column credited "the Hansen brothers Tor and Knut", "once Canada's best in this field", with planning a 90-metre jump at the new Little Norway resort, to "send more than just Frank Gartrell to the Olympics".[16] On 28 February 1964 Tor said the rope tow to the top of the hill would start that weekend.[17]

See Big Thunder: From the Thunder Bay Museum archives.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Tor Hansen" (obituary). TBNewsWatch / The Chronicle-Journal, 26–27 July 2016 (also at Legacy.com and Everest of Thunder Bay).
  2. ↑ "Tor Hansen" (obituary). TBNewsWatch, 27 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Big Thunder Ski Jumping Center". Wikipedia (drawing on Marion, J.-P., "Big Thunder frozen in time", Superior Outdoors, Winter 2009, pp. 26–30).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Kim Hansen" (obituary). TBNewsWatch, 27 December 2019.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Index of social notices, news and photos, Fort William Daily Times-Journal 1950–1954" (compiled by David Nicholson). Thunder Bay Public Library.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Index of social notices, news and photos, Fort William Daily Times-Journal 1955–1959" (compiled by David Nicholson). Thunder Bay Public Library.
  7. ↑ "Sylvia Young" (obituary). Sargent & Son Funeral Directors, January 2005 (also in The Chronicle-Journal via Legacy.com).
  8. ↑ "Arne Hansen (1911–1983)", Find a Grave memorial 154466572, Mountain View Cemetery, Thunder Bay (inscription "HANSEN ARNE 1911 - 1983 MYRTLE 1915 - 2006"; parents linked as Harald Hansen, 1889–1964, and Sigrid Hansen, 1890–1969).
  9. ↑ "Margaret Helen Hansen" (obituary). The Chronicle-Journal (via Legacy.com), 15 November 2007.
  10. ↑ Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 25 January 1947, p. 7
  11. ↑ Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 25 January 1947, p. 4
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Index of social notices, news and photos, Fort William Daily Times-Journal 1940–1949" (compiled by David Nicholson). Thunder Bay Public Library.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Index of social notices, news and photos, Fort William Daily Times-Journal 1960–1965" (compiled by David Nicholson). Thunder Bay Public Library.
  14. ↑ "Sunset Memorial Gardens", headstone photographs and transcriptions (RootsWeb, J. Mitchell).
  15. ↑ "Visitors May Have Trouble With Baldy". Fort William Daily Times-Journal, 15 February 1962; clipping from the Thunder Bay Museum archives, supplied by Emma Hurley Warren (archival assistant) in an email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). Scan.
  16. ↑ Sports column ("A new ski resort is in the making..."). Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 29 August 1963; clipping from the Thunder Bay Museum archives, supplied by Emma Hurley Warren (archival assistant) in an email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). Scan.
  17. ↑ "'Little Norway' In Operation". Port Arthur News-Chronicle, 28 February 1964; clipping from the Thunder Bay Museum archives, supplied by Emma Hurley Warren (archival assistant) in an email to Michael Currie, 26 October 2026 (personal communication). Scan.
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