Emil O. Hanson was born in Minnesota. He was converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a 20-year-old, military policeman during the Korean Conflict. After having dropped out of school during his ninth grade, he later advanced his education through the level of Ph.D. from the University of Utah.
The author is married to his wife, Joanne, they have six children with many grand and great grandchildren. He retired, after serving 30 years as an administrator at Weber State University. He and his wife have both served at the Ogden Family History Center. He became an associate Director and then Director of the Center.
He has spent his professional life primarily as an administrator, but prefers to be referred to as a teacher. Each of these articles are designed to be read in a short period of time and with the purpose of stimulating the reader’s mind. The hope is that those who read the articles will be taught, and after each article they might be heard to say: ‘That was interesting!’
We can never completely leave our past behind, since there were many valuable lessons learned. The first month of the Roman calendar year, is January, named after Janus the ‘God of Gates’ who had two faces, one looking forward toward the future and one looking back. January is the time when we leave the old year and enter through the gate of a new one, a time of transition from old to new. The face looking back, however, represents our selectively taking from the past whatever gems of wisdom that may be of value in our future. It would not only be impossible, but very foolish for us to think that we could leave everything behind. These brief thoughts represent those values that the author was able to bring forward, in a cumulative way, at the end of each of his many years.