Gabriel Garrett Hansen, 20, of Geneseo, Illinois, left this world far too soon on November 20, 2025, while proudly serving his country on active duty with the United States Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday at 12:30pm at the First Congregational Church, Geneseo. A memorial visitation will be held from 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at First Congregational Church, Geneseo. Inurnment services will be held at the Rock Island National Cemetery on Thursday, December 4, 2025. Military rites will be accorded. Vandemore Funeral Homes & Crematory is assisting the family. Memorials may be directed to the family.
Born August 18, 2005, in Galesburg, Illinois, to Charles Hansen and Rebecca Milan-Hansen, Gabe was a bright light from the very beginning. He graduated from Geneseo High School in 2023, earned his Airman’s wings after completing Basic Military Training in April 2024, and took up his post at Shaw AFB that September—full of purpose and excited for the adventure ahead.
Gabe lived life wide open. He could spend an entire day on the water with a fishing rod in hand, lose hours to a good video game, or cranked the music with no genre being off-limits. The beach was his happy place, firearms were his passion, and time with family and friends was never long enough. His quick wit and contagious laugh left a permanent mark on everyone fortunate enough to cross his path.
Gabe’s twenty years were brief, but the love he gave and the memories he created will echo for a lifetime.
He is deeply missed and forever loved by his mother, Rebecca Milan-Hansen (Burlington, IA); his father, Charles Hansen; his brothers Elijah Hansen, Adam Hansen, Hunter Hansen (Burlington, IA), Heath Milan (Galesburg, IL), and Michael Milan (Davenport, IA); his sisters Eva Hansen and Hailey Sedgwick; his grandparents Richard and Darlene Bliesener (Burlington, IA); and a large, loving extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, and nieces.
Waiting to welcome him home were his grandmother, Susan Alice Hansen, and his maternal great-grandparents.