Pete “Alan Lane” Hanner c. 1941
This morning, when Nyel brought me a cup of coffee with the news that “It’s Pearl Harbor Day,” my thoughts immediately flew to our friend Pete Hanner. We had learned yesterday that Pete died on Friday. He hadn’t felt well and thought he’d just lie down for a bit… What a wonderful way to make your exit, especially when you are 99 years old!
Pete was one of our most beloved and familiar ‘characters’ here at the beach. He was tall and slim, always looked like he had stepped out of that proverbial ‘band box,’ and had a lovely tenor singing voice. There was hardly a gathering that involved music where Pete didn’t sing – sometimes as part of the program and sometimes absolutely spontaneously. Pete had a song for every occasion and most of them hearkened back to the thirties and forties and the days of the Big Bands. That’s how Pete got his start – with Duke Daley and his Orchestra. Pete was both lead singer and the baritone sax man.
Pete Serenades Sydney at “Legendary Locals” event, 2013
“They called me a crooner,” he once told me, “and I used the stage name Alan Lane.” I’m not sure whether that was the name he used later when he had his own radio show at KMPC in Beverly Hills. He was “on the air” there when the show was interrupted on December 7, 1941 with the announcement that Pearl Harbor had been bombed. Soon, Alan Housel “Pete” Hanner was off to war and his life, like that of most of us who remember that day of infamy, changed forever.
I’m certain this is just many of the special days when I’ll be remembering Pete. I’ll be thinking of him on Valentine’s Day and on my birthday, at every House Concert and at every Vespers service – on all the noteworthy occasions and at all the venues when he would sing, sometimes for someone in particular, and sometimes… just to sing. And I’m sure I’ll never hear “I’ll Be Seeing You” again without remembering Pete… and Pearl Harbor.
Sorry the community has lost Pete, but delighted that he was so active for so long and then just drifted away. My condolences to his family and the Oysterville family.
Oh no. We have lost a real treasure.
Sydney, I was born on December 7, 1941, to Virginia Williams Jones in Portland, where they put blankets on the windows of the hospital in case Japanese subs came up the Columbia and started shooting. The way I remember it is like Mom told me later.
He sang “I’ll be seeing you” at his dear friend Nora Saunders funeral and brought us all to tears.
Yup, we’ve lost a sweet Peninsula treasure. Pete ( and, after Martha died, Pete and Joyce ) came to every house concert and Vespers service where sister Starla and I performed. Always with big hugs, and remarkable compliments. He wanted to make it to 100—-well, they must have needed another tenor Up Yonder.
We will sure miss Pete. What a great person! Such a gentle man. Ann and Phil were living in Hawaii, so Pete showed us the inside of their for sale Nahcotta house. We have loved Froggy Hollow ever since that cold, rainy November day nine years ago. Pete ushered us into the cottage, built us a fire in the wood stove, and told us how Froggy Hollow got its name.
I always enjoyed Pete. His songs were always so great and appropriate for whatever the occasion was. I have been lucky to find so many musical fathers in my life. Pete was one,
so was Larry Burse and Norm Poulschak. All made my life better, rest in peace Pete, we will miss you.