EAST WENATCHEE — H.B. “Jerry” Hanna hadn’t really thought much about political party affiliation when he applied for his first job as a Wenatchee attorney in 1950. Hanna had just passed his bar exam after graduation from Indiana’s Valparaiso University. Wenatchee attorney Dick Jeffers offered him a job, but with conditions.

 

“Jeffers wanted to give me a job, but he wanted me to be a Republican. I didn’t know what I was, but I knew I wasn’t a Republican,” recalled Hanna with a laugh. “I turned him down.”

Two days after turning Jeffers down, he applied to be Chelan County’s Democratic Caucus chairman and was given the job. Hanna set up his own law practice and later took on a partner. In 1952, he ran for election as a 12th District state representative. He lost, but ran again in 1954 and won.

Hanna was one of the valley’s best known Democrats in the 1950s and 1960s. He served in the state Legislature for 14 years, first as a representative from 1955 to 1956, followed by three terms as a senator, from 1957 to 1968. He’s the last Democrat from the 12th District to serve in the Senate and the only Democrat elected to the Senate from the district since the 1930s. Only two other Democrats besides Hanna have been elected to the House out of District 12 in the past 70 years. Eric Braun, of Cashmere, followed Hanna from 1956 to 1966. Horace Bosarth held the seat from 1966 to 1973.

Jerry Hanna often goes to his “war room” to reflect on his life involving sports, combat, 14 years in the state Legislature and career as an attorney and district court judge. (World photo/Rick Steigmeyer)

 

“This is Republican country. I don’t think anyone has even run for the Senate as a Democrat from here for the last 30 years,” he said. Hanna said he favored the Democratic philosophy that was more concerned with the common man and the downtrodden rather than the rich. “Their approach to people was more down to earth and focused on simple, daily issues. They represented the workingman. I grew up during the Depression and worked in the orchards for a quarter an hour. I’ve never needed a lot of money and didn’t want it.”

After his stint in the Legislature, Hanna also served as a legal aide for Gov. Dixy Lee Ray during her single term from 1976 to 1980. He is perhaps best known as a Douglas County District Court judge for nearly 20 years before and after his work for Ray. He retired in the early 1990s.

At age 87, Hanna has fought bouts with cancer and diabetes and undergone a couple of back surgeries. He wears a pacemaker for a heart condition and takes pills for his high blood pressure. He and his wife, Franc, were recently involved in a rear-end accident and are still undergoing physical therapy for minor injuries.

“I think they’re trying go get rid of me, but I’m not ready to go,” he said, smiling. He may be slow of movement these days, but not of mind and voice. He has an obvious love for storytelling and speaks in a clear, booming voice. He’s not shy about offering his opinion. He has a quick and contagious laugh.

“He’s always been such an upbeat person. He’s certainly not boring to be around,” said Franc, his wife of 40 years, and a well-known artist in the Valley. She was picked to paint the official poster for the 2005 Washington Apple Blossom Festival.

Hanna came by his Democratic roots naturally enough. His father, John W. Hanna, was an attorney in Michigan. He came west in 1906 and opened a law office in Waterville, where he met and later married Maude Pepper. Both families were active in politics and lifelong Democrats. John Hanna served one term in the Legislature and served as an assistant attorney general the last two years of his life. He died in 1934 when Jerry was 14. Maude Hanna was a Democratic caucus chairwoman.

The family moved from Waterville to Wenatchee just before the fourth of their five sons was born. Harold Bruce Hanna was born on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, 1921. His father gave him the nickname Jerry, because as a child he always wanted his parents to read him the latest volume of the “Jerry Muskrat” books that were popular at the time. “When I started school at Lewis and Clark Elementary, the teacher asked me my name and I said Jerry and that was that,” he said.

Hanna loved sports and played on Wenatchee High School’s football, basketball and baseball teams. He graduated in 1939 and attended the first classes held at the new Wenat-chee Valley College before deciding to follow his father’s footsteps and go to Lutheran-affiliated Valparaiso University to become an attorney. His education was stopped short by World War II.

“I liked my dad a lot. He would take me to work with him when he was seeing his clients. I wanted to be just like him,” Hanna said.

All five of the Hanna brothers were involved in the war effort. Jerry and one brother went into the Army, one joined the Navy, one the Marines and one the Merchant Marine. Jerry was a machine gunner and technical sergeant with the 83rd Infantry Division. He won the Bronze Medal for bravery at a battle to win Hamm, Germany, in 1945. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Croix de guerre for heroics in northern France and Belgium. The two medals and several others are displayed in an office he calls “the war room.” The walls of the tiny space are covered with photos of his military service and other memorabilia.

“The Battle of the Bulge was bad, really bad,” said Hanna. “I can still feel the cold.”

Hanna returned to Valparaiso to finish his law degree after the war. He married Grace Parker in 1949. When they learned they couldn’t have children, they adopted a boy and a girl. Hanna said he was on top of the world after winning his election to the House in 1954.

“We were flying high. We built a little house on the family property on Springwater,” he said. As a state representative, he was paid $100 a month plus $25 per diem during the legislative session, but money wasn’t what was important.

While Hanna was still in office as a representative, Harry Wall, Republican state senator from Chelan, died. Republicans failed to appoint anyone to fill the vacancy, so Hanna ran for the office in the open 1956 election and easily won. Hanna is proud of his 14 years as a legislator, but the time in Olympia was hard on his family life. His marriage to Grace ended in divorce. The break-up, in turn, affected his work.

He met and fell in love with Franc, who was working as a secretary for a lobbyist in Olympia. He lost his 1968 re-election bid to Wenatchee fruit grower Bob McDougall. The day after his defeat, Jerry and Franc flew to Hawaii and were married.

“I like to tell people he lost the election, but won the booby prize,” Franc said with a laugh.

Hanna returned to East Wenatchee and resumed his law practice. He was appointed Douglas County District Court judge when county commissioners created the position in 1972. His 16-year reign as Douglas County’s and later East Wenatchee’s small claims court judge was broken up by a four-year stint as Gov. Dixy Lee Ray’s legal adviser. He and Franc moved back to Olympia in 1977.

“I thought we’d be there for eight years, but she was very outspoken,” Hanna said about the state’s first woman governor. “She was a pretty good governor, but she was hard to deal with. She didn’t like the press and they didn’t like her.”

A woodcarving of Northwest Indian design carved by Ray hangs on the wall in Hanna’s living room. A photo of the governor with the Hannas in an Ione bar hangs on another wall.

“She was a very smart and talented woman and could be a lot of fun to be with, but she was her own worst enemy,” he said. Ray was defeated in the primary in her bid for a second term. Hanna was asked to resume his job as part-time Douglas County District judge. He resigned during his fourth term to undergo treatment of prostate cancer.

“I liked being a legislator and being a judge too. I’m a people person and I liked trying to help the workingman. The guy with the lunch bucket,” he said about his long public service career. “It was a challenge. Meeting people and facing a challenge. That’s what would get me motivated. It still gets me motivated.”

Rick Steigmeyer, The Wenatchee World Online - Wenatchee,WA,USA