Robert J. (Bob) Hanna III, age 80, died at home in Seattle on Nov. 20 after a battle with prostate cancer that moved to the bone marrow.

He was born to Robert J. Hanna, Jr. and Anna V. Olsen at Seattle General Hospital on Nov. 29, 1921. He spent his early childhood near Echo Lake in North Seattle, and adolescence on Sunny Point on Port Madison Bay. He graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1940.

From 1941 to 1945 he served in the Navy on the battleship South Dakota and participated in the Battles of Guadalcanal and Savo Island.

After the war, he pursued a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington, graduating in 1950.

He took a job with Sperry Gyroscope after college, and retired an Ordnance Supervisor from Boeing Aerospace Division in 1981 after 30 years of service.

He could build or fix practically anything his kids will always remember the tree house he built in the cherry tree. He also had a lifelong love-affair with the sea. He and two buddies made a trip to Ketchikan in the summer of 1946 on a 19-foot sloop called the Miss B. Havin.

He always said he wanted his ashes scattered on Stonefield Beach on the Oregon Coast.

In the last 20 years, he became very interested in genealogy and made many trips around the country searching out relatives, starting on Manitoulin Island in Ontario where his grandfather settled after coming over from Ireland during the potato famine, and progressing to Hannah, North Dakota, which was named after his family.

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Jeanne; his daughter Karel, a contract administrator for a St. Paul construction company, his son Eric, a tile-setter, and his grandson Christopher.

A memorial service was held on Nov. 25 at University Congregational Church. The family requests that memorials be sent to The American Cancer Society.