Stanley Louis Hanel

Retired Lab engineer Stanley Louis Hanel died July 30 at Pacific Gardens in Santa Clara following a battle with prostate cancer. He was 86.

Born Dec. 23, 1925, in Nebraska, he graduated from high school during World War II.

He was in training as a navy cadet pilot when the war ended. He then enrolled in the University of Nebraska, graduating with honors in mechanical engineering in 1948.

He began his career with Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee. In 1953 after visiting his sister in San Francisco, he decided to move to the Bay Area. He met his wife Joan O'Keeffe in Berkeley. They were young professionals who lived in neighboring boarding houses there. They were married in her hometown, New York City, in June 1954 but returned to California, finding a home in Belmont and raising four children.

Hanel spent most of his career as an engineer at LLNL. After his retirement, he and his wife traveled across the United States in a trailer for two years. In 1987, they retired first to Sunrise Terrace in Arroyo Grande and then in 1990 to Cienega Seabreeze Park in Oceano. They resided there until December 2011, when they moved back to the Bay Area due to declining health and to be near their children.

Hanel is survived by his wife, Joan; daughter, Mary; sons, Stanley, John and Bob; daughter-in-law, Anita Gursahani; and two grandchildren, Avinash and Devin.

A funeral mass and cremation took place in August in Santa Clara. His ashes will be placed in a niche by family and friends in the columbarium at Old Mission Cemetery in San Luis Obispo on Oct. 19.