In Loving Memory of Jon Michael “Big Mike” Hansen

Michael, beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend, passed away peacefully at home on August 18th, surrounded by his wife, Betsy, and his daughters, Jessica and Laura.

Big Mike lived a life marked by courage, laughter, adventure, music, and above all, an incredible love for his family.

He graduated from Manasquan High School in 1975. During his tenure there his athleticism was on full display excelling in football, track and field, and baseball. He was also a frisbee fanatic.

A proud Army veteran, Big Mike served with the 101st Airborne Division as a Cobra helicopter crew chief. He later continued his service in the National Guard, where he served during Desert Storm. His military service reflected the courage, loyalty, and determination that he carried with him throughout his life. His sense of duty and honor to serve his country was inspired by both his Uncle Johnny and his father’s service and sacrifices.

After his time in the Army he went back to what he grew up doing, construction. He was gifted with a mathematical and spatial brain and could problem solve like no other. He knew how to build anything and fix everything and he took pride in making sure everything he touched was done well. When the physical strains of construction took its toll, he transitioned into home inspecting. He loved combing over every detail and educating prospective home buyers and other inspectors. He had a passion for knowledge and helping people.

Big Mike had a larger than life personality, to match his towering 6’8” frame, and an unforgettable ability to make people laugh. He loved a good joke, a good story, and bringing joy to the people around him. His humor was uniquely his own, and his laugh and personality could fill a room.

Music was one of Big Mike’s greatest passions. He wasn’t simply someone who enjoyed music, he truly loved it. He knew an astonishing number of songs, lyrics, bands, and artists, and could often recall lyrics that everyone else had long forgotten. There always seemed to be a song connected to a memory, a story, a place, or a moment in his life. Music was something he carried with him and shared with others, and his knowledge and enthusiasm for it were something people couldn’t help but admire. He often would make his daughters and wife a human cymbal while jamming out, turning an ordinary moment into one they would never forget.

Big Mike also had a deep love and passion for golf. His father, Dick, was the one that introduced it to him and Mike got his natural talent for golf from him. He loved being out on the course, the challenge of the game, the competition, and the camaraderie that came with it. Golf was another way for him to enjoy the outdoors, spend time with friends, ripping on a golf cart, and of course share a few opinions about the shot that just went wrong. Whether he was hitting a bucket of balls, playing a great round or simply enjoying the day, golf was something that brought him genuine joy.

Big Mike also loved a good game of poker. He enjoyed the cards, the competition, the strategy, and perhaps most of all, the people sitting around the table. He was part of regular weekly poker games in both New Jersey and Florida, and many of those games were hosted right in his own home. His house was often a gathering place filled with friends, cards, laughter, stories, and a fair amount of good natured trash talk. Poker and other card games gave Big Mike another opportunity to do what he loved most: spend time with people and have a good time doing it.

Big Mike had an uncanny ability to know where he was and how to get where he was going. His family affectionately called him “The Human Map.” He seemed to have a mental map of almost anywhere and everywhere he had ever been. Give him a destination, a few landmarks, or a general direction, and somehow, he could piece it together in his head. Long before everyone had GPS in their pocket, Big Mike was the GPS. And even when GPS came along, he often seemed to think he knew a better way.

He also had an adventurous spirit. Big Mike loved experiencing new places, discovering new things, and seeing what was around the next corner. He was curious about the world and knew how to find something interesting wherever he went. He collected experiences, stories, songs, laughs, and memories along the way.

But more than anything, Big Mike loved his family.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Hansen (Bonhag); his mother, Georgene Hansen; his brother, Rick Hansen, and sister, Karen Hansen; his daughters, Jessica Cooper and her husband, Brad, Laura Gergle and her husband, Stephan, and his honorary 3rd daughter, Annabel Bonhag and her daughter, Ava Roman. He was a proud grandfather to Kaiden Michael and Alex Luis, who brought a special kind of joy to his life. They were the sons he was always wishing for. He also leaves behind several beloved cousins, nieces and nephews that he was blessed with.

For more than five years, Big Mike fought a long and difficult battle with incredible strength and perseverance, with his faithful wife by his side. The same courage that carried him through his years of military service, along with Betsy’s enduring love and devotion, carried him through those final years as well. If you knew him, you would have heard at least once about the Rhino mentality that he lived by. Heavily inspired by the Rhinoceros Success books by Scott Alexander, he believed you were either a cow or a rhino and everything that he did, he charged head on at it like a rhino would.

Big Mike’s life cannot be measured simply by the years he lived or the battles he fought. It can be measured in the people he made laugh, the songs he knew by heart, the golf courses he played, the poker games around his table, the places he discovered, the directions he somehow always knew, the stories he told, and the family he cherished.

Big Mike had always had a love for Jesus from an early age, but in the later years of his life, his heart truly turned toward the Lord. He surrendered his life and his heart to Jesus and began to truly follow Him. When the time came, Jesus called him home to the Lord, and he passed peacefully at home, surrounded by his wife and the two daughters he loved so deeply.

He leaves behind a lifetime of memories and probably a whole lot of songs that will never sound quite the same without him. He was deeply loved. He will be deeply missed. And he will never be forgotten.

Whenever a favorite song comes on, whenever someone remembers a lyric he somehow knew by heart, whenever cards are dealt around a table, whenever someone picks up a golf club, whenever a familiar road is traveled, whenever a new place is discovered, or whenever laughter fills a room, a little piece of Big Mike will still be there.

Rest easy, Big Mike. Your song will carry on until we meet again in Heaven.

Florida based service will be Wednesday, September 2nd at 10am at Relentless Church located at 7710 121st Ave E, Parrish, FL 34219. NJ based services will be held later this fall.