W. Jay Hannan, Sr.

W. Jay Hannan, Sr, age 93, of Rock Island, formerly of East Moline, died Saturday, January 25, 2003 in Silver Cross Nursing Home at Friendship Manor in Rock Island. Funeral services for Mr. Hannan will be held at 10:30 AM Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at Trimble Funeral Home in Moline. Visitation will be Tuesday from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. Burial will take place at Greenview Memorial Gardens in East Moline with Military Honors performed by the Moline American Legion, Post 246. Memorials may be given to First Congregation Church in Moline where he was a member. William Jay Hannan was born January 10, 1910 in Corridon, Missouri the son of William Jefferson and Amy Bertha (Smith) Hannan. He attended Moline High School and graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in electrical engineering. He married the former Yrsa Elise Thomsen on November 7, 1935 in Rock Island, Illinois. During their first two years of marriage they spent life in various Civilian Conservation Corps camps throughout Wisconsin, where he was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. From 1938 to 1941 he was employed as an engineer at Deere & Company. Then in 1941 he was called back into active service and served in the U.S. Army through the end of World War II. He attended the Army War College and was then assigned as a captain to the Presidio in San Francisco. Captain Hannan spent the remaining years of WW II in China, where he was attached to the Signal Corps building airfields. He ended the war as a Lt. Colonel and served as a full colonel in the army reserves until the age of 60. After WW II Mr. Hannan went into electrical contracting work. The family lived in Moline, Dubuque, Davenport, and East Moline. Mr. Hannan joined Robbins Electric Co. as a partner in 1950 retiring as president of the company at the age of 68. Mr. Hannan was active in Rotary, Masonic Temple, and the apprentice electrician joint training program. He served as a deacon at Edwards Congregational Church in Davenport. He enjoyed golfing and reading all sorts of educational books. Mr. Hannan's survivors include his wife of 67 years, Yrsa; a daughter, Joan Hannan of Vienna, Virginia; three grandchildren, Robin Lyn Garlem, Deborah Rosenblum, and David Rosenblum; six great-grandchildren, Erica, Cynthia, and Christina Garlem, and Byron, Brandon, and Alicia Fuller. He was preceded in death by his son, William Jay Hannan, Jr; his brother, John L. Hannan; and two sisters, Esther Allen and Naomi Christy.