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Dr. William (Bill) Hansell

• Athena graduate of 1938

• Was a 3 sport varsity athlete

• Student Body President

• Earned his Doctor of Veterinary Degree from Washington State College in 1944

• In 1944 he was commissioned as an officer in the US Army Veterinary Corps and served in India and China during WWII rising to the rank of Captain

• He was an innovator in agriculture who pioneered circle pivot irrigation and was on of the first local adopters of no-till seeding

• He was also an early proponent for artificial insemination in cattle

• He was named Oregon Father of the Year in 1973

• Was named Athena First Citizen in 1985

• In 1973 he and his wife Joyce were selected as Oregon Conservation Farm of the Year

• In 1983 they traveled to the White House where they were awarded with the first ever National Endowment for Soil and Water Conservation to reforest family land in the Blue Mountains with 5000 pine trees

• He remained an ardent supporter and booster of Weston-McEwen athletics later in his life

• All five of his children and six of his 15 grandchildren attended McEwen and Weston-McEwen High Schools

• Dr. Hansell passed away in 1997 from cancer