Dexter Stuart Hannan, 66, of Warren, passed away March 27 after a long illness. He was born Oct. 26, 1948 in Hope, son of Stuart E. Hannan and Virginia E. Winslow Hannan, formerly of Union, who predeceased him.
Starting as early as a young child, Dexter enjoyed being outdoors and working with his hands. He was a Boy Scout and liked to play baseball. He attended Union schools, and graduated from Union High School in 1967. He worked for a couple years in different odd jobs before starting as a mechanic at Joe Pietroski’s on Main Street in Thomaston.
In 1973, he met his longtime love and soul mate, Trudy Severson Hannan, on a blind date and they were married two years later. They spent a few years enjoying their married life together before starting a family. They would go to car shows, drag races, on motorcycle rides, bowling, dancing, and visited relatives and friends.
Dexter worked at Pietroski’s for 10 years before taking over the business with co-owner, Fred Thayer. They ran Hannan & Thayer Auto Care for 25 years. Being a business owner, he was often viewed as a workaholic, as he spent a lot of time at work, sometimes working 6-7 days a week. He made many very special friends and memories. He loved seeing and helping his customers. He would often see generations of families because his customers would send their children to him to service their cars. They knew he was proud of what he did and put in a lot of quality and care into his work.
In 2004, Hannan & Thayer Auto Care closed its doors and Dexter began working for Shepard’s Toyota in Thomaston. Many customers followed him. He was very happy to have another place to work that also had such a great group of people working there.
Dexter was also a cancer survivor. At age 34, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He spent many years in and out of hospitals. He became a pioneer at Maine Medical Center Maine by becoming the first ABMT (Autologous bone marrow transplantation) patient.
Dexter was a great husband, dad, grampy, and friend. He had big heart and his own twisted sense of humor. In his younger years, Dexter enjoyed gardening, fishing, and hunting, had his lifetime hunting and fishing membership, was part of the Big Buck Club, and spent time crafting his own fly ties. He loved to build his model airplanes and would often fly them at his cousin Buggy Morine’s field in Union. He also spent many years on a bowling league at Oakland Park Lanes in Rockport.
When work permitted, weekends were for family. He would take the family to the Wiscasset Speedway, Winterport Drag Racing, Blue Angels Air Show, on shopping trips to Augusta, and on road trips to Massachusetts. Family reunions, picnics, and barbecues filled the summer months. Dexter was known by family and friends as the “Grill Master.” He would grill the “Hannan’s hot dogs” at Buggy’s airfield, flip the burgers for Shepard’s summer employee barbecues, and properly grill steak to perfection at family barbecues.
He loved his family and took great pride in hearing what his children and grandchildren were doing. He loved going to school events for his grandchildren, whether it was a sporting event or a chorus concert. Explaining how to hold the baseball bat at tee-ball games and rooting for his grandchildren at soccer games always brought him joy. He was also able to go on a couple of travel adventures with his family and got to see and experience some of the cultures and traditions in Jamaica and Mexico that tourists often miss. Food Network became a favorite show of his and he would love to bring home unusual ingredients and print off recipes for his wife to make. He recently took his own stab at it and, to his family’s surprise, became pretty good at baking. He has taught his family many important lessons in life; love, respect, diligence, hard work, how to drive, how to change oil and brakes, and more recently, how to plow snow.
He is survived by his longtime love and wife of almost 40 years, Trudy Severson Hannan of Warren; daughters, Michelle and husband Daniel Flaherty of Warren, and Jaime Hannan-McMurrin of Union; sister, Susan and husband James Larson, of Hudson, Mass.; grandchildren, Kaia and Aria Flaherty, Olivia and Hannah McMurrin, and Zidane and Alika McMurrin; aunt, Gerry Winchenbach of Waldoboro; several nieces, nephews, and cousins; and many special and beloved friends.
Dexter’s celebration of life visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m., Thurs., April 2 at Hall’s of Waldoboro with a service being held at 2 p.m., Fri., April 3 at the Warren Baptist Church with a reception to follow. Burial will take place at the East Union Cemetery at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Dexter’s name may be made to the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, Development Office, 22 Bramhall St., Portland, ME 04102.
To extend online condolences, light a candle in Dexter’s memory, or to share a story or picture, please visit his Book of Memories at www.hallfuneralhomes.com.
Hall’s of Waldoboro has care of the arrangements.
