HANSEN ALLEN C. HANSEN With heavy hearts, we share that Allen Clifford Hansen passed away peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Sept. 16, 2018, one week before his 94th birthday, after suffering a stroke. Allen was born Sept. 23, 1924 in Plainfield, NJ. He and his parents, Gunnar Winding and Mary Margaret, and his brother Henrik, settled in Metuchen, NJ in 1931. Allen was very active with the Boy Scouts, an experience that exerted a tremendous influence on him. At age 18, he joined the Navy during WWII. He served aboard the USS ALSEA, a sea-going tug that hauled targets for the destroyers to practice firing and was to partake in the invasion of Japan when the war ended. He returned to Metuchen and in 1946 attended Triple Cities College of Syracuse University in Endicott, NY on the G.I. bill, graduating from Syracuse University in 1950 with a B.A. in Political Science. After graduation, he worked as a reporter for The Perth Amboy Evening News covering Metuchen. He was recalled to active duty in 1951 during the Korean War, as a Naval Intelligence Officer, serving until 1954. After working briefly in Spain, he returned to the U.S. when notified that his application for a job as a Foreign Service officer with the newly established United States Information Agency was approved. He spent 32 exciting years with USIA, working in nine countries and Washington D.C. It was a career full of adventure and danger, including passing through civil unrest in the Dominican Republic, a terrorist kidnapping plot in Uruguay (avoiding it only because he was away on vacation), and being stationed in Bolivia during the 5-Day War. In Venezuela in 1956, on his first assignment with USIS, he met and married Charmaine Rostant of Trinidad. They enjoyed subsequent assignments in Mexico, British Guiana, and Spain. In 1963, while on sabbatical, he received a Master's Degree in American Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. With a growing family, Allen's assignments went on to include Director of USIA Operations in Bolivia and Peru, and Deputy Affairs Officer in Pakistan. In Uruguay, he traveled with the ambassador and led press conferences to explain US foreign policy. Being a man of adventure, Allen took his family on memorable car trips across South America! For family and friends, each trip with Allen was a wonderful experience while also providing his children with an appreciation for the local culture and learning about the world around them. Allen took part in organizing President Dwight Eisenhower's visit to Spain, President Lyndon B. Johnson's trip to Uruguay, and Vice-President George Bush's visit to Pakistan. He spent one night around a piano as Duke Ellington played, joked with Danny Kaye, hung out with Lowell Thomas and organized Kirk Douglas's trip to visit refugee camps in Pakistan. He was a technical advisor on the first-ever USIA anti-narcotics film, called The Trip, about drug trafficking in Latin America. He played a key role in educating the Pakistani government about the drug problem in their country. His three Washington D.C. assignments included: Caribbean Desk Officer for USIA at the time of the Dominican Crisis in the mid-1960s; USIA Policy Officer for Latin America (1972-1976); and Chief of the Latin American Branch of the Office of Research (1981). After retiring from USIA in 1987, Allen kept busy writing his memoirs, including: USIA: Public Diplomacy in the Computer Age; Nine Lives: A Foreign Service Odyssey, The Hole In the Doughnut: Growing Up in Metuchen in a Time of Innocence; Fleet Tug Sailor: A World War II Memoir; and Campus Capers: The Life and Times of a G.I. College Student. He was also the originator of an internet site sponsored by the USIA Alumni Association and the Public Diplomacy Foundation and served as its webmaster for several years. For over a decade, Allen volunteered at the State Dept. bookshop and the annual book fair. He never slowed down in his later years, he never stopped being interested in current events and he never stopped being ever cheerful. Even at 93, many people, after meeting him, would express in utter surprise, "You're HOW old?" Allen Clifford Hansen is survived by his wife of 62 years, Charmaine, and his five children (and spouses): Robert (Nancy); Annette; Katherine Freeman (Daniel); Alicia Hatcher (Monte); Mark (Dahlia). He was very proud of his twelve grandchildren and reveled in their lives: Lindsay, Charlie, Kevin, Caroline, Joseph, Nicole, Gwennie, Joshua, Jason, Chris, Savannah Rose and Zachary. Wake to be held Thursday, October 11, 5 to 8 p.m. at Murphy's Funeral home, 1102 West Broad St. Falls Church, VA, 22046. Funeral and celebration of his life are Friday, October 12, 11 a.m., at Marine Memorial Chapel, 3251 Embry Loop, Quantico, VA, 22134. Burial immediately afterwards at Quantico National Cemetery. The family would like to thank the wonderful staff at the George Washington University Hospital for taking such good care of him during his final days.