Dave Freudenthal from the state Department of Revenue. Hansen resigned his Senate seat on December 31, 1978. Alan Simpson would later become the Senate Republican whip. At the Hansen funeral, Alan Simpson paid tribute, accordingly: "I owe him much. All of Wyoming and the nation owe him much. . . . He was a dear and special man who gave much and asked very little, and fought on always with integrity, courage, and an uncommon degree of common sense. God bless his soul." Family In 1934, Hansen married the former Martha Close (June 5, 1914 – September 29, 2011), who was raised in Sheridan, Wyoming. The two met at the University of Wyoming. The Hansens were the parents of Peter Arthur Hansen and Mary Mead. Hansen's grandson, Matthew H. "Matt" Mead (born March 1, 1962), served as the United States Attorney in Cheyenne from 2001 to 2007, as an appointee of U.S. President George W. Bush. In 2007, he resigned as the U.S. Attorney to seek the seat of the late U.S. Senator Craig Thomas. However, the Wyoming Republican State Central Committee bypassed Mead on the third and final ballot. He came within fourteen votes of being one of the three nominees from which Governor Freudenthal (D) would make the final selection to fill the Thomas vacancy until the 2008 general election. In 2010, Mead was elected governor of Wyoming, re-elected in 2014, and served as the 32nd Governor of Wyoming (2011–2019). Upon the death of former Republican Senator Hiram L. Fong of Hawaii in August 2004, Hansen became the oldest living person to have served in the United States Senate. Hansen's official gubernatorial portrait was prepared by Michele Rushworth, who sought to represent the former governor's soul in paint. Death and legacy In 2006, Hansen said in an interview that he and his wife were in "pretty good health" considering their ages, though he had vision difficulties; so they had retained a driver. By mid-October 2009, Hansen fell severely ill because of complications from a broken pelvis. After a short time in the hospital, he returned home to be with Martha, his wife of more than seventy-five years, whom he had met at UW in Laramie. Theirs was the longest active marriage of a present or former U.S. senator. Hansen's prognosis was poor, and he died on October 20, four days after his 97th birthday. In addition to his