Possible changes in service hours: Due to concerns about the new coronavirus, activities such as visits and services may be rescheduled or cancelled. Please check with the funeral home or church before leaving to participate in the event.

Funeral Home Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home

Albert Bernard "Barney" Hansen, 95, a lifelong resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died in Stony Point Meadows on October 1, 2021.

Barney was born Herbert Eugene and Mary Elizabeth Fitzgerald in Cedar Rapids on February 25, 1926. He ranks eighth among 10 children, and spends most of his life on the northwest side of the town. As a young man, his father paid 25 cents for each rat he caught in the basement. This interest in "working and making money" continued throughout Barney's life. As

As a sixth-grade student, he piped pipes at Russo Plumbing, charged 50 cents a week, and delivered deliveries to Belknap and Gatto grocery stores.

As a member of the "greatest generation", Barney left Roosevelt High School before graduation and joined the U.S. Navy with the help of his mother's signature. From June 1944 to the end of World War II, he proudly served as the mechanic's deputy on the aircraft carrier USS Mississippi. Barney’s work includes the Leyte Gulf (the ship was hit by a kamikaze at its waterline causing a near-fatal blow) and the Okinawa amphibious attack, the final fatal blow to Japan’s hopes in the Pacific. Participated in operations in most major battles. On September 2, 1945, when the Allied forces signed a peace treaty with Japan, he was aboard the Mississippi in Tokyo Bay.

After being discharged from the hospital, Barney went home and obtained a GED, and then used the GI Act to study in business school for six months. After graduating from business school, Barney went to work for the National Literary Association, selling magazines. His celebrities selling magazines include Johnny Lujack of the University of Notre Dame and the reputation of the Chicago Bears, and the wife of Boston Baseball Hall of Fame member Ted Williams. Mrs. Williams wrote a check for $42 for the magazine that Ted later stopped paying. Soon thereafter, Barney became a fan of the Yankees. In 1949, Barney attended the Jack Roster Baseball School in Cocoa, Florida. Of the 187 players at the school, 26 have won professional baseball contracts, including Barney, who signed with the Odessa Oilers of Texas. Barney participated in spring training with the Oilers and spent most of the season at the club before being traded to Del Rio.

In 1950, Barney returned to Cedar Rapids and began a 15-year career in fast-throwing softball, and was inducted into the Cedar Rapids Softball Hall of Fame in 1988. , Whitey’s car sales, Danceland and Fleck’s Falstaff. Barney helped Whitty win the state championship in 1953 and Fleck in 1961. In 1954, he won the Cedar Rapids Softball Association's Most Valuable Player award.

Barney is keen to collect anything that can make money. In the 1960s and 70s, he collected guns, coins and antiques, and was an exhibitor at Hawkeye Downs' regular "gun show". In his later years, Barney was Goodwill Industries' favorite customer. For several years, he focused on buying baseball gloves and donating them to the Marshalltown minor league and various baseball organizations in the Dominica. Barney never encountered a clock he didn't like. His house is full of all kinds of time shards, but one of Barney’s

The greatest joy is to give things. His charitable nature is considered to be an expression of goodwill, but after further review, the donation mainly opened up the space needed for him to collect more things.

Barney worked as a painter and wallpaper hanger for Friedl Construction and has been responsible for the maintenance of the Higley and Granby buildings in downtown Cedar Rapids for more than 30 years.

After retiring in 1991, he became interested in golf. Barney likes to play regularly with a solid group of friends and is also the curator of the Golden Eagle Golf Championship, which he held every year from 1982 to 2006.

After selling the franchise for the Iowa State football game in the early 1940s, Barney remained an avid fan of the Hawkeyes for the rest of his life. Whether it is emphasizing the necessity of "throwing bombs" or getting more three-pointers in the air, he is always helpful to the Hawkeyes and coaches. In the 20 years he has personally participated in the Hawkeyes football game, Barney has witnessed Hayden Frye transforming a previously dormant project into a continuous winner.

On November 19, 1955, Barney married Patricia Stegel at St. Patrick's Church. They have five children and rarely separate during their 61 years together. Pat and Barney often host parties for their children and friends. They are very willing to open their homes, and Barney usually has more fun than anyone else. After Pat died in January 2017, Barney stayed at his home on First Avenue until a house fire in March 2021 displaced him. Anyone who knows Barney will recognize that he likes to laugh. He always likes to hear a good story, and he prefers to tell a story. Any kind of gimmick-even if he is the target-will definitely cause laughter. Like most people who grew up in the 1930s and 1940s, he likes playing cards, bowling and almost everything he can bet on for a dollar, including football and basketball games.

Barney's son Steve (played by Diane Clement) is from Marshalltown. With daughters, Amy (Greg) Stewart of Fairfax, Jane (Brian) Rasco of Lakeville, Minnesota, Ann (Bob) Hitts of Oxford, Indiana, and Cedar Rapids Beth (Steve) Melchior. In addition, Barney has 12 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Barney often uses his 95 years of life stories to relive his grandchildren, including but not limited to: his hole-in-one, his unassisted three-person game, bellows, monkey kid, voyeur, his Stradivarius, Cedar Rapids Cockroach and lost anchor tail.

The family would like to thank the staff and residents of Stoney Point Meadows for their care and warmth over the past six months. A life celebration to be held later is being planned.

After playing the last round of golf on September 22, Barney said: "I don't know if I go to heaven or hell-but I have friends in both places!" Flying low, dad, remember to use tape Tie your ankles.

Instead of flowers, a memorial fund will be established in the name of Barney along with the Cedar Rapids Softball Hall of Fame. Contributions can be sent to: Amy Stewart, 117 Ridge Dr., Fairfax, IA 52228.

Please leave a message for your family under the obituary at www.cedarmemorial.com. 

The Gazette is an independent, employee-owned local, state, and national news source for Iowa.