Marven Hansard

Marven E. "Gene" Hansard, 89, of Arkadelphia died March 16, 2009. He was born February 09, 1920 in Delight, Arkansas to Gardner W. and Alice Lenora "Nora" Hansard. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1964 and moved to Arkadelphia shortly thereafter where he established 4 D Construction. He was a commissioned officer and pilot and was qualified to fly 32 types of aircraft. He flew 144 missions flying over "the hump," the Himalayan Mountains between India and China and racked up the second highest number of hours flown by individual pilots for that type of mission. He received 17 awards and/or decorations, the most coveted being the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Presidential Citation Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross (twice), the Air Medal (3 times), the South Pacific-Asiatic Ribbon with a star for the battle of Burma, the American Theater of Operations Ribbon, and the North African-European Theater of Operations Ribbon. During the remainder of his career, he worked in a number of fields of the Air Force including recruiting, instructing in police schools, and Provost Marshal. For four years, he worked for Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, and Gen. Charles P. Cabell, the assistant director. He was active in several civic and veterans organizations. He was a founding member of the American Legion Post in Murfreesboro, a member of the Moose Lodge, and was instrumental in the organization of the Clark County Homebuilders Assn., for which he served as president more than once. He was especially proud of the fact that he served as a district governor with Lions International 1994-95 and was named a Melvin Jones Fellow. He was preceded in death by his wife, Georgia Ann Hansard, and by a daughter, Melody Diane Holder:

Survivors include: a son, Rev. Dan Hansard (wife Pat), daughters Debbie Huckabee (husband Bob); Denise Whittaker (husband Steve); 11 grandchildren, Miri Peterson (husband Brad) of Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada; Heidi Hansard, Joshua Hansard of Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada; Jessica Perez (husband Justin) of Wichita Falls, Texas; Chris Hulme of Dallas, Texas; Melody Salyer (husband Jeff) of Kansas City, Mo.; Danielle Holder, Lucas Holder, and Corey Holder, of Kansas City, Mo.; Deanna Minnich (husband Matthew) of Romeoville, IL; and A.J. Wolfe of Arkadelphia. Eleven great grandchildren: Kasia, Jalen, Makenna, Evan, Aylish, Elizabeth, Callie, Diego, Alexandra, Mackenzie, and Owen.

Funeral will be at 10:00 a.m. Friday, March 20, at Ruggles-Wilcox Funeral Home Chapel officiated by Rev. Carl Kluck. Burial will be in Rest Haven Memorial Gardens under the direction of the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard.

Pallbearers will be Bud Shepherd, Tommy Thomason, Jerry Helms, Bill Campbell, and Cody Bolt. Honorary pallbearers are Chuck Stringer, Bill Goff, Joe Boyd, Andy Riethmaier and the Arkadelphia Noon Lions Club.

Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at the funeral home.