07/21/2026
With great sadness, we learned today that Hans Ostergaard passed away about a week ago.
Some of you might remember Hans from his days as the owner of Bumper to Bumper in Fort Nelson in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when the store was known as Hans Auto.
But for those of you that don’t, allow me to share a few words.
Hans was fair, kind and a generous, gentle man. He valued hard work and believed strongly that a person’s word was their most important asset. He treated his own word that way and I saw that first-hand every day.
He came from the school of “work hard-play hard”. He was a character, never missing a chance for a quick joke or to tell a funny story on himself. But then it was back to work.
He was “old-school” but had a forward-looking view and although he struggled to adapt to the early days of technology, he knew that in order to succeed it needed to be embraced and he pressed ahead with computerization despite his frustration with it.
I am grateful for what Hans taught us about how to treat people and over the years if we’ve treated a staff member right or looked after a customer as we should have, Hans had a hand in that.
Every night on the way out the door he thanked me and I never forgot it. It’s something I’ve tried to carry on since those early days with all our staff.
In June of 1987 Hans set up Owen Shilling and myself to take over the business, fulfilling a commitment he’d made to me when I came to work for him a few years earlier as a young 20 year old; “do a good job for me and you’ll have a chance to own this place” was his promise on Day 1.
There is so much I am grateful to Hans Ostergaard for and I feel blessed for the trust he put in me all those years ago.
Rest easy, Hans
Graham Prouse
In Loving Memory of Hans Fredslund Ostergaard "Big Grandpa" / "Grampy" Hans Fredslund Ostergaard, of Fort St. John, BC, and formerly of Fort Nelson, BC, passed away on July 12, 2026, at the age of 88. Hans was born in Olds, Alberta, the sixth of seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. L.F. Ostergaard. H...
