David Hanson was born August 2, 1918, and passed away
December 2, 2007. He was a Lakeside resident. His loving wife of 65
years, Vivian, had taken care of him for the last five years. Mr. Hanson
was an adventurous person with the drive to explore the world. He had
traveled around the world three times, twice with his wife and once with
his wife and two young daughters in tow.
The El Cajon Californian Newspaper and later the
Daily Californian newspaper and Back Country Trader had published many
stories about his travels, which started out on a Vespa motorbike and
included steam ship, bus, train, plane and kayak. He had visited 53
countries.
David Hanson had also been a school teacher and had
taught in Alaska, Australia, San Pasqual, Orange Glen, Ramona and
Lakeside.
Besides his worldly travels he had a pioneer spirit.
In 1946 in Lakeside he and his wife bought 40 acres of raw land on El
Cajon Mountain (El Capitan) bordering the Barona Indian Reservation.
They lived in a large Army tent while working on the land. Together they
blasted huge boulders to make way for a road. Then they cleared the land
of boulders to create a pad for the rock house they would build, all
from rocks gathered from their land. Later they hand dug wells and built
a rock and concrete reservoir to store their water. He also built a
concrete and glass home for his Mother so she had a view of the
beautiful mountains. He named his home Big Bounder Ranch. He and his
family lived there until 1980. His daughters, Connie and Cathy attended
Lakeside schools and graduated from El Capitan High School.
Things had gotten too easy for David so he and Vivian
moved and bought only 20 acres of raw pasture land in Gerber Ca. This
was much easier to work on than a rock mountain. He set about planting
trees . . . over 1000 of them. They grew and sold fruits of all types.
In 1980 he and Vivian moved to Yuma until 2005, and then it was back
home to Lakeside to be near his family.