Delmar Hansen



Manning Monitor articles ------ 1945

Pacific Bound
Pvt. Delmar Hansen writes his parents Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Hansen, that his company left Fort Ord, Calif. Aug 24 with occupational troops Pacific bound.


Delmar Hansen

The extraordinary life of Delmar J. Hansen, 81, Moorhead, Minnesota, ended peacefully on Saturday, January 19, 2008, at Villa Maria in Fargo. As always, his wife, Rhoda, was by his side.

Delmar was born at Manilla, Iowa, on December 1, 1926, to William and Elsie Hansen. He completed high school there and entered the Army for World War II duty, serving as a platoon sergeant at a replacement depot in the Philippines. Following his honorable discharge, Delmar worked in the sales office of Swift and Company in Omaha, Nebraska.

He enrolled at the University of Omaha in the fall of 1949, graduating with a baccalaureate degree in English and theatre in 1952. He completed his master's degree at Florida State University and taught high school speech and English at Underwood, Iowa, for two years. He taught speech and dramatic arts at Illinois State Normal University at Normal, Illinois, before beginning his doctoral program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. His PhD was awarded in 1961.

Delmar credited Clarence Glasrud, emeritus professor of English, for his decision to join the Moorhead State College faculty in 1958. As Delmar stated in the July 1977 edition of Howard Binford's Guide, "Every teacher needs a teacher - and here in Moorhead, Dr. Glasrud has been mine."

Delmar met the love of his life and his principal collaborator while both were graduate students at Iowa. He married Rhoda J. Godown in December 1958 and they spent their honeymoon attending theatre performances in New York City. Thus began their remarkable service to theatre arts in the Upper Midwest. For the next 33 years he directed approximately 350 plays, as Rhoda helped actors with line interpretations. Most of their work took place in the MSU Moorhead theatre that now bears his name.

In the summer of 1963, Delmar took over the Falls Summer Theatre at Fergus Falls Junior College and in 1965 the Straw Hat Players raised the summer stock curtain on their home campus. The program had two purposes: to provide an intensive training program for theatre students and to entertain audiences. It was a rigorous schedule - eight plays in ten weeks. When a show closed on Saturday night, Straw Hatters worked until dawn to replace the set so stage rehearsals could begin on Sunday. Delmar told The Forum in 1973, "It's an awfully good test of whether a student wants to stay in theatre."

Delmar's contributions to theatre arts training were recognized in many ways. In 1967 he chaired the first regional conference of the American National Theatre and Academy in St. Paul. He was a charter member of the Lake Agassiz Arts Council. He served eight years on the theatre advisory panel for the Minnesota State Arts Board, which is now led by alumnus Thomas Proehl (BA 1988). In 1985 he was recognized with the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for Quality Teaching. In 1987 he became the first educator in Minnesota to receive the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's recognition as Minnesota Professor of the Year.

Delmar served as chairperson and Director of Theatre for the Department of Speech Communication/Theatre Arts from 1960 to 1990 when he retired as emeritus professor of theatre arts. During his tenure, he instituted a guest artist/instructor program that brought theatre professionals to the campus to work with students. Theatre was his muse; education was his purpose. "Doc" guided scores of students to lives in the professional theatre and all he instructed to lives enriched by the arts.

Delmar is survived by his wife, Rhoda; step-daughter, Karen Rohde (Donald); brothers Marlin, Roger (Jean), Wayne, and Gary (Cleo); his sister, Madelyn Ortner (Richard); and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Ralph, Glen, and Larry (Sandra); and sisters, Colleen and Lois.

Delmar will be inurned at Riverside Cemetery in Moorhead.

There will be a celebration of his life on Saturday, March 22, 2008, at 2:00 pm in the Delmar J. Hansen Theatre (Roland Dille Center for the Arts) at MSU Moorhead.

The family prefers memorials to the Delmar J. Hansen Endowed Scholarship in care of the MSUM Alumni Foundation, Moorhead, Minnesota.