Hans D. "Swede" Hansen, 96, passed away Monday, Feb. 5, 2007, at Terrace Grove Assisted Living Center in Logan, Utah.

He was born March 31, 1910, in Logan, to Hans Dederik and Caroline Hartmann Hansen, the 10th of 13 children. He married Mildred Nielsen on April, 1, 1927. They would have been married for 80 years this spring, and were recognized in 2003 for having a "Gold Medal Marriage" by Utah Governor, Michael Leavitt. He commended them for their many years of devotion to each other.

Swede was involved in the movie theater industry most of his life and for a while he worked for Intermountain Theaters. He later owned and operated the Utah Theater along with Mildred. Together they ran the Utah Theatre until 1982. He was also strongly involved in the Motion Picture Operators Stage Hands Union, where he served as the business agent. However, later in life he became strongly opposed to unions.

Although Swede and Mildred spent many years running the Utah Theatre, his greatest love in life was raising and training cutting horses. He was an outstanding horse cutter, winning over 200 trophies and was inducted into the Utah Cutting Horse Association's Hall of Fame. He was proud to show the trophies to visitors as well as tell them stories about his different horses.

Swede also enjoyed spending time with his family. He and Mildred had two children, Colleen (Clair, deceased) Chugg of Las Vegas, Nev., and Keith (Dane) Hansen of Providence, Utah. They were also blessed with six grandchildren, Deon (Herb) Poort of Las Vegas, Randall Chugg of Las Vegas, Ronald Chugg of Las Vegas, Lorin Kerry Chugg (deceased), Brittany (David) Milligan of Millville, Utah, and Trevor Hansen of Palo Alto, Calif. They also had five great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.

Swede was proud of his posterity and especially enjoyed telling them cutting horse stories as well as teaching them to ride. Grandpa, thank you for all the fun memories and the love you shared with us.

He was preceded in death by his parents; 12 siblings; son-in-law, Clair Chugg; and one grandson, Kerry Chugg. He is survived by his wife of nearly 80 years, Mildred of Logan; daughter, Colleen Chugg; son, Keith Hansen; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and four great-great grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9, at the Logan City Cemetery, 1000 N. 1200 East in Logan. There will be no viewing prior to services. Condolences and thoughts may be extended to the family online at Allen Mortuaries.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Swede's name to the Sunshine Terrace Foundation at www.sunshineterrace.com. His family would like to thank Alpine Hospice and the staff of Terrace Grove for their caring and concern for Swede and Mildred over the last few months.