Hansen, Clark
Biography
Clark Stephen Hansen was born in Wisconsin in 1947, and grew up in Rantoul, Illinois. He attended college in New York, then joined the Peace Corps. He returned to Illinois and worked as a newspaper editor. In the 1970s, he moved to Portland, Oregon. He worked as a forest ranger with the U. S. Forest Service in Oregon for eight years. He subsequently became an oral historian and recorded hundreds of oral history interviews for the Oregon Historical Society and the United States District Court of Oregon Historical Society. In 2006, he became a Buddhist Monk and took the name Jampal Gyatso. After being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2019, he traveled to the Tiger’s Nest hermitage in Bhutan. He died in 2021.
Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Hansen in his interview; Hansen’s obituary in the Oregonian, April 29, 2022; “Petals of a Lotus: A Collective Tribute Celebrating The Deep Life of Lama Thubten Jampal Gyatso,” by Lama Jacqueline Mandell, Northwest Dharma Association website, accessed May 29, 2024, https://northwestdharma.org/petals-of-a-lotusa-collective-tribute-celebrating-a-life/.
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
Oral history interview with James M. Burns
Oral history interview with James M. Burns conducted by Clark Hansen from January 17, 1990, to August 25, 1998, as part of the United States District Court Oral History Project. Burns was a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court and the U.S. District Court of Oregon.
Oral history interview with Norma Paulus
Oral history interview with Norma Paulus conducted by Clark Hansen from February 10, 1999, to November 2, 2000, and from February 10-27, 2010. Paulus served as a state legislator from 1970 to 1976 and as Oregon secretary of state from 1977 to 1985.
Oral history interview with Betty Roberts
Oral history interview with Judge Betty Roberts conducted by Clark Hansen as part of the Oregon Legislature Oral History Series. Roberts was an Oregon Court of Appeals judge and state Supreme Court justice.