Written February 10, 2010
He went in his sleep Sunday night.
Dad was born on his mother’s birthday, March 16, 1921, the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.
She was Nellie Kelly before she married my grandfather, Davidson Cinclair Hager; so, St. Patrick’s Day was a fitting time of year.
Dad was a musician first and foremost but he never let it get to be too much. He earned his living as head of maintenance for Charlotte Transit, a job he took before WWII and returned to afterwards. He went from 3rd shift mechanic’s assistant to head of maintenance about a dozen years after returning from the war.
He served in the Army Air Corps as a flight engineer in various aircraft; but he loved two in particular, his B-26 and the Twin Beech he finished up his service time in.
But it was the music he loved and cherished. He probably had the longest running steady ‘gig’ in Charlotte’s history. Over twenty years every Thursday and Saturday night at the Oakdale American Legion.
After his close friend, fellow musician and fishing buddy Johnny Keziah passed away in 1997, his jobs became rarer, but he never did it for the money.
Even in his early 80s, he would join some friends and go to nursing homes to ‘pick for the old folks’. I pointed out that he was older than many of them and he brushed that aside with a ‘that’s their problem’ and a smile.
In 2003, his wife of many years Ruth passed away and I came back from California to take care of him.
Many times I’d return home after I’d first arrived and find him gone with a note ‘Gone Picking’ on the table.
He began his losing battle with a pacemaker replacement that proved too much for his system and his final two years were not happy ones.
But for 86 years he was a strong and vibrant man and that’s the way we want him remembered. His flag draped coffin will not be opened but a picture of him in his younger, stronger days will be beside him. That will be to remind him of who he was when he was at his best and strongest.
And now he’s not gone, he’s just ‘gone picking’.
Tags: army air corps, fellow musician, flight engineer, hager, service time
ADVERTISEMENT
My condolences, Dave. He sounds like a great man who had a great life. Take care.