John Van Hanford, Jr. was the beloved older brother of former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Hanford Dole, who has viewed him as a role model throughout her life. He died of heart failure on April 7, 2008, at his home in Charlotte, NC, after a struggle with cancer for the previous year and a half.

Mr. Hanford was born March 20, 1923 in Salisbury, North Carolina. He was a descendant of some of the earliest settlers of Rowan and Mecklenburg counties, including signers of the Rowan Resolves in 1774 and the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in 1775.

At Boyden High School, he was distinguished as a class leader and debate champion. He graduated from Duke University in 1943, where he received numerous honors as an outstanding student leader and was first-chair trumpet in the Duke University band. John served as president of Kappa Alpha fraternity and was chosen with six other campus-wide leaders for membership in the highly esteemed Red Friars.

Upon graduation, Mr. Hanford enlisted in the Navy and served in WWII as an officer in combat aboard two aircraft carriers in the Pacific, the USS Windham Bay and the USS Saratoga. At Iwo Jima, the Saratoga sustained nearly catastrophic damage from kamikaze attacks and torpedoes. Saratoga’s men fought back valiantly, as fires broke out throughout the ship. Burning planes and fuel were scattered across the deck and water rushed from a large hole in her side, causing a six degree list. The Navy described the attacks against the “Sara” as “one of the most concentrated in which a carrier has survived, which might have sunk any other ship.

			Immediately upon his release from the Navy, John Hanford returned to his hometown of Salisbury to join his father in the family florist business, started by his grandfather in 1905. During the war, his father had changed the name of the company to J. Van Hanford and Son as an expression of faith that his son would return home safely.

The family business, later to become Hanford’s, Inc., with operations in Charlotte and Salisbury, was led by the personal creativity of John and his wife, Bunny. It became the Southeast’s largest wholesale florist business, with an expansive greenhouse complex, and an international import corporation. The business pioneered international trade in the gift and decorative accessories industry and developed a strong national reputation and product distribution. John held state and national leadership positions, including the presidency of the North Carolina State Florist Association and the presidency of the Wholesale Florist and Florist Supplies of America.

John was deeply devoted to his family and lovingly encouraged and advised them through all their life’s endeavors. He also had a large “extended family”, and helped many individuals with problems through wise counsel and other forms of assistance.   His work promoting various civic, charitable, and religious interests, included Chairman of the Planning Committee for the First United Methodist Church of Salisbury, the American Red Cross “Youth in Action” initiative, the Charlotte Symphony, the Board of Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte’s Calvary Church, and Gethsemane Gardens Children’s Center orphanage in Kenya, where a music room has been named in his honor.

Traveling on the John Hanford Memorial Flight are John’s wife, Bunny Hanford; sons, John and Jody Hanford; sister Elizabeth Dole; and cousin Anita Ryan. Meeting the veterans in Washington will be John’s daughter-in-law, Laura Hanford, and his four grandchildren; his brother-in-law, Senator Bob Dole and the Doles’ daughter, Robin.