HANNER, ROBERT LUKE

HANNER, GEORGE, BAKER

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 3/6/2019 at 15:37:44

Robert Luke Hanner
July 16, 1918 ~ December 31, 2011

Lodi News-Sentinel
Lodi, California
January 03, 2011

Robert Luke Hanner, World War II veteran and labor relations executive, passed away Dec. 13 at his home in Lodi. He was 92.

He was born in Perry, Iowa, to Francis Luke and Jessie George Hanner. He graduated from Perry High, where he played center on a state champion football team.

During World War II, he served with the U. S. Army Air Corps in the South Pacific and earned the rank of staff sergeant.

He returned to Iowa after the war and was graduated from Drake University in Des Moines and then earned a master's degree in economics from the University of Southern California.

Following a brief tenure teaching high school and coaching football in Exeter, Calif., he entered the field of personnel and labor relations with the A.O. Smith Corp. in Los Angeles. He held related positions with the Aerojet-General Corp. in Rancho Cordova and California Western States Life Insurance Co. in Sacramento. He completed his career as a regional labor relations executive for the U.S. Postal Service, retiring in 1987.

He lived for many years in Loomis, near Folsom Lake, where he enjoyed riding horses, boating and water-skiing. After retirement, he resided in Citrus Heights and greatly enjoyed walking and biking along the American River. He regularly attended square and round dances. He was an avid reader and an enthusiastic traveler.

He was involved in several professional and community organizations, including the Elks Club and Sons in Retirement. He had served as a director of the Placer County Library Board.

He was a steadfast family man and a devoted father. He moved to Lodi in 2003 to be near his children.

He is preceded in death by his mother and father, Francis Luke and Jessie George Hanner; his former wife, Adelene Baker Hanner, and his brothers, George and Dale Hanner.

He is survived by his daughter, Barbara Carey, and son-in-law, Dean Eldridge, of Acampo; his son, Richard Hanner, and daughter-in-law, Judy Hayashida of Woodbridge, and two grandsons, Mitchell Hanner and Alexander Hanner. He also leaves behind his dear friend in later years, Adele Hoffman of Loomis, and the loving people of Emeritus Austin Gardens who brought such comfort to him in his final months.

A memorial service is set Jan. 29 at 11 a.m. at Grace Presbyterian Church, 10 N. Mills Ave., Lodi.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2013