How the Wests won

Eva and Dan West were honored as this year's Super Fans for Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School for homecoming at halftime on Friday at the Miner football game.

Jackie Jones, the head coach for HEM varsity volleyball, spoke to the nearly 200 people in attendance. She reminisced when she was a small girl and could remember the couple's kindness to her.

"Enjoy being honored, because of all the time both of you have invested in all of us, it is truly treasured," Jones said.

The couple received a standing ovation.

Dan is a homegrown Hanna boy. Although not born in the town, he has lived in Hanna since he was five. He remembers when Hanna had shrunk to a couple hundred people while he went to school.

"My dad was a logger," Dan said. "We came to town just as the U.P. mine shut down, so most of the people left and all that was left were a few railroad people and loggers. It was mostly a ghost town."

School was important to the West family. Dan's mother was the first president of the PTA.

Dan has an amusing story about his early years in school.

"I can remember in 5th grade when the U.S. was worried about Russia bombing the country and it really scared me," Dan recollects. "I told my teacher and she said I shouldn't be scared because the Russians flew over Hanna yesterday and they thought somebody already beat them to it."

Dan grew up in a time when sports brought the town together.

"I played a lot of sports because, back then, sports was everything to the town," He said. "Gyms were packed with supporters because it was the social thing. So once I was back, it has always been natural to support the kids and the sports, because that is how I grew up."

Dan graduated in 1968 and went into the military. He came back to a town after his service. Hanna was starting it's boom again in the 1970s and he got a job with the mines. He ran the draglines, the monster machines that scooted the coal out.

"If Gillette had not come on line, there is a good chance Hanna would have grown to be the size of Cheyenne or Gillette," Dan said. "They had big plans for this town back when the boom happened, but once they realized they could burn that cheap coal, Gillette went from the size of Elmo to what it is now."

"I remember going through Gillette and it was mostly a trailer town," Eva said agreeing. "That was back in the 60s."

Eva worked for Carbon County School District No. 2 for 40 years before retiring in 2012. She was the Hanna Elementary School secretary from 1977 until she retired and has seen generations of tykes grow into adulthood. Her close contact with parents and children made it natural for her to attend all the games she could over the years.

"I watched kindergartners grow up and have families of their own," Eva said. "And during that growing up process many of the kids played sports."

The couple met when Dan came back home after his service in the military. She said townspeople told her she was going to like Dan.

"Everybody kept telling me, just wait until Danny West comes home," Eva said. "The very first people I met in town were actually Dan's folks."

Everyone who told her she and Dan would hit it off were correct. Three months after they met, the couple got married.

Dan said although it was inherent for him to support the teams he was often at work in the mines, but Eva was at almost every game.

"I like seeing the generations continuing where I get to see the similarities and differences," Eva said. "I like to remember the good things many of the kids have done over the years and sports is where a lot the students shined."

Both said they are honored to have been chosen as super fans for 2018.

"It was very nice that people noticed we come to the games and we do support the kids," Eva said. "We are a small town and we want our kids to do well."

The couple said Hanna has been good to them and by this honor, the town is proving so again.