Maynard A. Hanks

Reno, NV - Our beloved husband, father and brother, Maynard Allen Hanks, age 75, died December 31, 2009 at his home in Reno, Nevada. He was born November 6, 1934 in Grover, Utah a son of Urban Van and Lena Gwen Allen Hanks. Maynard married Nedra Tanner of Fremont, Utah, November 25, 1953 in the Manti LDS Temple, after graduating from Wayne High School where they were both active in sports and extra-curricular activities. They moved to Las Vegas for their first ten years of marriage where all three children were born. Maynard successfully managed three Chevron stations and participated in dirt track car racing and loved playing team softball. He also had a large cabin cruiser boat on Lake Mead which we frequently went to for weekend escapes, fishing, and waterskiing with friends Margaret and Larry Stout and their children. After successfully mastering the service station business he made a risky career choice to go back to school to get a college degree, so we moved to Reno in 1963 where the University of Nevada was more established at the time. Nedra helped support the family while he studied by working her way up the ranks of the U.S. Postal Service. Maynard made many new friends and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He started working for UNR at various research facilities, including the university ranch, for the Biology and "Aggie" departments. He quickly became one of the favorite teaching assistants in various biology related subjects and worked his way up through numerous research projects with Dr. Robert Taylor and Dr. Marble, to become an associate professor. He continued his research on cancer eye in hereford cattle and "whirling disease" in Nevada's fish hatcheries. He came close to receiving a PhD in virology through these efforts. He always maintained a love of sports and hunting and went on many hunting and fishing trips with his university buddies. Maynard was a good friend to many people and always had a good word for everybody. He helped many struggling students along the way in reaching their goals. He was a great mentor to many of the students he taught who went on to veterinary or medical school. His second child and firstborn son Douglas was mentored by him and attended UNR Medical school and is now a professor of clinical pathology at the University of California in San Francisco where he carries on the family teaching tradition. Maynard was also a successful part time real estate salesman in addition to his UNR faculty position. He obtained and managed a number of properties including several apartment buildings in Reno. Maynard Hanks had a phenomenal sense of humor which he passed on to his children. He also possessed a fundamental sense of kindness and fairness and always tried to please others before himself. He loved placing sports bets on his favorite teams with his son Gary every week. He had enjoyed trips to Mexico, Yellowstone, and Utah in recent years. He had also visited Australia and New Zealand to visit Paula, his first born daughter. Maynard Hanks was a survivor through it all. He had no mother in his life after the age of 8 and ranch life in Grover, Utah where he was born and raised, could be challenging. We love you Maynard! He will be greatly missed by his wife of 57 years, Nedra, of Reno; his three children: Paula Hanks of Australia; Douglas K. Hanks of San Francisco, California; Gary Hanks of Reno, Nevada; sisters and brothers: Mary Ellen and D. Waldo Potter of Ivins, Utah; Joseph Sterling and Janis Hanks of Fairview, Utah; Walter E. and Shirley C. Hanks of Grover, Utah; Raema Gwen and Mark Christensen of Salt Lake City, Utah and their families. He was preceded in death by a brother, Gordon Van Hanks. Funeral Services will be held Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 1:00 P.M. in the Fremont LDS Ward Chapel, where friends may call for viewing Saturday morning from 11:00 to 12:30 prior to the services. Burial will be in the Fremont Cemetery under the care of the Springer Turner Funeral Home of Richfield and Salina, Utah.