James Ryan Hansen, age 52, of Oxford passed away suddenly on May 13, 2024. He was born on the 13th of May, 1972 in North Miami Shores, FL. As a child, James grew up in Coral Gables, FL, a suburb of Miami, FL. James attended Riviera Day School from pre‑K through 2nd grade. Hating private school, James then attended Sunset Elementary School a few streets away for grades 3 – 6.
James was a talented artist, soprano, creative writer and spelling bee virtuoso. Just before 4th grade, James moved from Coral Gables to Coconut Grove, another Miami suburb. In 4th grade, James was approached to enroll in the ESSA program, a cooperative pilot program between Sunset Elementary and the University of Miami that offered accelerated learning for a wide variety of subjects at middle and high school levels. James passed his ESSA entrance exam and flourished in the program over the next two years.
James then attended George Washington Carver Middle School for 7th grade.
For 8th and 9th grade, James continued on to Ponce DeLeon Middle School as an honors program student and was recommended by his art teacher to apply to the inaugural class of the New World Center for the Arts in downtown Miami for visual arts. James went through an audition process but didn’t make the cut.
James then attended Coral Gables Senior High School for grades 10 – 12, enrolled in the honors program, graduating with International Baccalaureate Honors. James was also nominated by his faculty as one of the school’s “Seniors of Distinction” but James turned down the nomination-throughout his life, James was always humble, quiet and modest when it came to his achievements. James loved bowling and was on the junior varsity and later, varsity bowling team. During his senior year, he was ranked number 10 in Florida after his best week on the team.
James applied to Florida State University and was accepted halfway through his senior year. James was offered a bowling scholarship at FSU and a spot on the roster of the bowling team. However, his focus was to attend FSU’s School of Meteorology in order to earn a Masters Degree in Meteorology with the eventual goal of working at the National Weather Service Hurricane Forecast Office in Miami as a hurricane forecaster. James thought the demands of the Meteorology program would not have allowed him to balance both tasks. Bowling was out of the forecast.
Upon matriculating to FSU, James lost his academic focus and was more interested in the extracurricular social activities FSU is still notable for. During his freshman year, he met Joette and they became an item.
James couldn’t keep up with demands of the prerequisite mathematics portion of the Meteorology program and did not make it to the next phase of the program. James’ GPA after his semester was 0.9. Joette helped James get back on track and they took all their courses together for the 1991 spring semester. James finished the very next semester with a 4.0 GPA. James then changed his major to creative writing and then finally back to what he had been talented at from the start and majored in Studio Art and Graphic Design. James graduated FSU in 1995 with a BS in Studio Art and Graphic Design. After graduating, James left Tallahassee, FL and followed Joette back to CT to leave in Fairfield.
In October 1995, James began his Graphic Design career at a commercial printing facility in South Norwalk, CT which printed packaging for clients like Clairol, United States Surgical, Playtex and other nationally recognized companies. James was a prepress operator for a seven color Heidelberg press, one of the only such presses in New England at the time, taking digital files, preflighting them, bringing them up to spec to be output to film and then transferred onto lithographic zinc plates to be mounted onto the Heidelberg press to be printed onto the packaging card stock.
After a few months, James interviewed for a Jr. Graphic Designer position at PROMO Magazine, also in South Norwalk, CT and was hired in February of 1996. James excelled at PROMO and eventually became the magazine’s Art Director. James art directed features, covers and departments and coordinated photo shoots with top marketing executives from Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Co, Harley-Davidson, MLB, WNBA, Samsung, etc.
In 1997, James and Joette moved to Stamford, CT living downtown.
In March of 1998, James proposed to Joette and were later married in April of 1999 at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, FL followed by an extended honeymoon in the Hawaiian Islands to meet the rest of Joette’s family.
In late summer 1999, James and Joette moved to Shelton, CT-which James absolutely loved.
After four years at PROMO, James was approached to join “Team 5” at marketing firm Brann Worldwide in Wilton, CT. James was a Graphic Designer on the Merck Pharmaceuticals account, producing brochures and direct mail pieces for Zocor, Vioxx, Propecia, Singulair and Fosamax product lines. After a year at Brann, the Merck account was suddenly closed in May of 2000 after the FDA approved television advertisements for prescription medications. Merck no longer wanted to use print advertising.
James then worked as a freelance Graphic Designer, working on full product line launches for John Frieda and other projects for CONAIR, Rusk, Clairol and other companies located in Wilton and Stamford, CT.
In September of 2003, James and Joette moved into their first home in Oxford, CT.
James began freelancing for clients throughout the “All-American Valley” from 2003 – 2006. In mid-2006, an upstart company discovered James’ online portfolio and approached him to interview for a Technical Services Director position. James was hired by Affinity Express for a five-year outsourcing contract. James worked on-sight with their client ADVO/Valassis in South Windsor, CT, mentoring and directing a team of 600+ graphic designers in Pune, India. James worked on authoring automated graphic design workflows that interfaced with Oracle software.
This enabled a quick turnaround time for localized advertisement circulars that would be inserted into Sunday newspapers across the country for companies like Walmart, Directv, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza and other household named brands. The project was completed two years ahead of schedule in late 2008.
In 2010, James was contracted to work for 3M’s Life Sciences filtration division in Meriden, CT. James worked in their marketing services department producing materials for a successful rebranding/trademark project.
In late January of 2012, James almost passed away from a pulmonary embolism. He was hospitalized at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, CT, on the respiratory unit, also known as 9N, for about a week. This near death experience did more than just change his life. James considered this the beginning of a new life and the end of the other. When recalling the experience, James would say one person came into St. Vincent’s and a new person left when he was discharged. James decided during his stay that he was going to become a Registered Nurse. He became inspired by one of the nurses that took care of him, Jeff Vrlik. James then matriculated to Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT, full time, earning a 4.0 GPA through all his nursing prerequisite courses. James then approached St. Vincent’s College and was offered a grant to matriculate to their nursing program.
During the last semester of the clinical portion of the program at St. Vincent’s College, James was once again back on 9N, this time as a nursing student. Near the end of the semester, James met with the unit manager and expressed an interest in being hired as a Staff RN. James earned his AD in Nursing in July of 2015. A few weeks afterward, the unit manager contacted James and told him there would be a job waiting for him upon passing the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). James’ last semester was an extended course specifically geared toward passing the NCLEX on the first attempt. After completing the course in late July, James passed his NCLEX two weeks later on his first attempt, answering the minimum amount of questions to prove proficiency.
James received his CT Registered Nurse License a few days later in mid-September. A month later, James came full circle in under three years and was hired as a staff RN on 9N at St. Vincent’s Medical Center. Nursing school was the hardest experience James said he ever had. He always said he could have never become an RN without Joette’s strong support and it was an integral part of his success. James was well-liked on 9N and was asked to work on the night shift which James absolutely loved and loved the people he worked with even more. He considered 9N staff to be his extended family. James was an exceptional RN who specialized in patient safety and patient advocacy, which was reflected in the seven safety keys he was awarded by unit managers (a facility record) for recognizing and preventing events that could have brought serious harm to his patients. James was also a member of the medical center’s Institutional Ethics Committee.
In September of 2022, James took a leave of absence to provide care to his mother, Teresa, who has been battling ovarian cancer since 2015. James returned back to CT in March of 2023. By the end of 2023, James was ready to return to 9N and was rehired in January of 2024.
James leaves behind his beloved Joette and their dog, Raven, his parents, William and Teresa Hansen, his in-laws, Jeffrey and Candace Wain, several aunts and uncles, special cousins including Eddie, who was like a brother to him, his cherished 9N extended family and dear friends. James was a Godfather to four children: Chelsea, Mya’Lani, Austin and Lacey and was a proud Uncle to many.
Friends may greet his family at Riverview Funeral Home, 390 River Road, Shelton, CT on Friday May 17, 2024 between 5:00 pm and 8:30 pm. His funeral will leave the funeral home on Saturday May 18, 2024 at 9:15 am for a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:00 AM in St. Joseph Church, 50 Fairmont Place Shelton, CT. Burial will follow in Huntington Lawn Cemetery East, 40 Lane St. Shelton, CT.
Online condolences can be left at www.riverviewfh.com
