WALTER HAGEN 1915-2005

LEYSE, HAGEN, RAYMOND, MEIER, FLAGE, SIMMONS, BEEGEL

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 8/19/2005 at 19:59:46

Walter Hagen

Walter Hagen, 90, of Waukon, Iowa, died Sunday, August 7, 2005, at the Good Samaritan Center in Waukon, while recovering from surgery. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, August 10 at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon, with Rev. Larry Olson officiating. Burial will be in Oakland Cemetery, Waukon. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon. Memorials may be made to the Robey Memorial Library, Veterans Memorial Hospital, or First Presbyterian Church, all in Waukon.

Walter Hagen was born February 8, 1915, on the Paint Creek Township, rural Waterville, Iowa, farm of his parents, Albert G. and Karen M. (Leyse) Hagen. He attended rural elementary school, graduated from Waterville Consolidated High School in 1932, and from the Iowa State College Herdsman Class in Ames in 1938.

July 28, 1946, he married Jean Raymond at First Presbyterian Church in Waukon.

Agriculture was Walter’s life’s work. He operated “Springvale”, the farm that had been in his family since 1899, where he raised a dairy herd, hogs, and beef cattle. He was in the first Iowa Master Pork Producer class in 1942 and was named an Iowa Master Farmer in 1963. Walter was a lifelong promoter of soil conservation, serving as a district commissioner from 1958 to 1970 and as a State Soil Conservation Committee member from 1973 to 1985. He was an Iowa Master Gardener and an Iowa Master Forester, and hosted Conservation Education Days for Allamakee County sixth graders at the pond on his farm for over 25 years. He also grew and sold Christmas trees and spearheaded the effort to plant living snow fences in Allamakee County. Among his many awards were the Conservation District Distinguished Service Award, the Iowa Owner-Operator Soil Conservation Award, the Iowa State Extension Service Award, and many others in community and agricultural service. He was honored to be a member of the first “People to People” tour, sponsored by Wallace’s Farmer, that went to Russia in 1959 to share ideas about agriculture. Walter also served two terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1960 to 1964, where among other legislation, he wrote and sponsored the bill that made the oak Iowa’s state tree.

During his life he was a Boy Scout, a Mason, and an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Waukon where he served as an Elder and Deacon. A talented singer, he was a member of the Iowa State College Men’s Glee Club, church choir, barbershoppers, and sang at countless community musicals, events, funerals, and weddings. He enjoyed travel, golf, and sharing his love of growing things with his family and many friends.

Survivors include his wife Jean of Waukon; a son, Russell (Barb) Hagen of Monona, Iowa; a daughter, Sandra (Luther) Meier of Lytham St. Annes, England; three grandchildren, Joel Hagen of Gowrie, Iowa, and Sarah and Rachael Hagen, both of Monona; and a sister, Gladys Flage of Waukon.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Mabel Simmons and Cora Beegel; and two brothers, Grant and Leonard Hagen.

Honorary casketbearers are Willard Kerndt, Bill Thomson, Jim Bristol, Jon Hagen, Claude Schafer, Leland Meyer, and Frank Norden. Casketbearers are Elmo, Erik, Alan, and Grant Hagen, Lynn Stock, and John Simmons.

Waukon Standard, August 10, 2005