{"id":4398,"date":"2018-01-04T11:13:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T17:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/?p=4398"},"modified":"2018-01-09T13:59:19","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T19:59:19","slug":"gerald-hager-castalia-iowa-january-5-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/2018\/01\/gerald-hager-castalia-iowa-january-5-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerald Hager, Castalia, Iowa, January 4, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gerald “Jerry” Gayle Hager, 85, died Thursday, January 4, 2018, at his home near Castalia.\u00a0Jerry was born May 3, 1932, at the Postville Hospital, the son of Elmer and Marjorie (Kobriger) Hager.\u00a0 He was baptized on October 31, 1932, at the Frankville Community Presbyterian Church.\u00a0 On August 18, 1946, Rev. LaVerne Meinecke confirmed him at Zion Lutheran Church.\u00a0 He attended grades 1-5 at Frankville School, and transferred to Castalia in 6th grade when his family moved there. He graduated from Postville High School with the class of 1950.\u00a0 In 1952, he was inducted into the US Army during the Korean War and served with the A Battery, 300th Armored Field Artillery Battalion.\u00a0 He was a forward observer stationed at the American Battery farthest north of the 38th parallel.\u00a0 After his discharge from the Army in April 1954, he started work at the Kneeskern Mink Farm.\u00a0 On October 3, 1954, he married his high school sweetheart, Marlys A. Meyer.\u00a0 Jerry hauled milk for 41 1\/2 years, purchasing a can milk route in 1955, and transitioning to bulk\u00a0 milk in 1960.\u00a0 He owned and operated the Castalia school bus routes for 25 years, sold LP gas and farmed.<\/p>\n

Jerry was an active member of Zion Lutheran Church and served several years on the church council.\u00a0 He volunteered on the Castalia Fire Department from 1955 to 1996.\u00a0 Creating the Avenue of Flags at Bloomfield and Pleasant View Cemeteries was a special project Jerry undertook in honor of his mother.\u00a0 He then devoted many volunteer hours helping display the flags for patriotic holidays.\u00a0 The handicap entrance at Zion Lutheran Church was another special project.\u00a0 Jerry said God led him every step of the way in designing, drafting, overseeing and helping build the addition which was finished in 2003.\u00a0 Jerry also helped build the New Hope Lutheran Church in Farley, Iowa, and he worked with Habitat for Humanity to build several houses.\u00a0 Jerry was one of the founding members of the Castalia Tractor Days committee in 1992.\u00a0 In 2014, Jerry and Marlys were named the Grand Marshals of that event.\u00a0 Many organizations benefited from his participation – the Bloomfield Historical Society, the Bloomfield Trustees, the American Legion, the Bloomfield Cemetery Association, and the Lutheran Credit Union.\u00a0 Jerry was an avid collector of many things, including Allis Chalmers tractors and toy trains.\u00a0\u00a0 He enjoyed woodworking, architecture, drawing, cookie and cake decorating, gardening and making maple syrup.\u00a0 He loved people and went out of his way to stay in touch with family and old friends.\u00a0 Meeting new folks, swapping stories, giving encouragement, joking and teasing delighted him.<\/p>\n

He is survived by his wife Marlys; two daughters: Gayle (Jeff) Olson of Winfield, and Gloria (Loren) Wissmann of Milford, Nebraska, one son: Gary (Jacqueline) Hager of New Vienna; eighteen grandchildren: Kinsey Olson Sovern, Torey (Jason) McElroy, Ian Olson, Rachel (Alan) Busenitz, Ruth (Ryan) Bourlier, Josiah (Abi) Wissmann, Bethany (Dan) Beasley, Andrew (Kori) Wissmann, Elizabeth Wissmann, Matthias (Michelle) Wissmann, Stephen, Hannah, Susanna, Alaythia, Nathanael, and Charissa Wissmann, Jordan (Danielle) Hager, Jenna (Derek) Christoffer; fourteen great-grandchildren: Riley Sovern, Kendrick and Autumn Busenitz, Lee Bourlier, Joanna, Asher and Jenifer Wissmann, Arianna, Caden and Everett Beasley, Julian Hager, and Brayden, Declan, and Briar Christoffer; one brother: Jack (Dellene) Hager of Postville, one sister-in-law, Margaret Hager of Muscatine and several nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n

He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Robert.<\/p>\n

Visitation will be from 3-7 pm on Friday, January 12, 2018 at Zion Lutheran Church, Castalia, Iowa and one hour before services at the church on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Funeral Services with Military Honors will be 11:00 am on Saturday, January 13, 2018 at Zion Lutheran Church at Castalia with Rev. Alan Wicks as the Officiant.<\/p>\n

Interment will be at Bloomfield Cemetery, Castalia, Iowa.<\/p>\n

The Schutte-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Postville is assisting the family.<\/p>\n

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be given to the Zion Lutheran Memorial Fund, the Castalia Fire Department or the Bloomfield Cemetery Association.<\/p>\n

The final thought that Jerry wanted to leave with his family is this:<\/p>\n

“Love one another and stay in touch with each other.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gerald “Jerry” Gayle Hager, 85, died Thursday, January 4, 2018, at his home near Castalia.\u00a0Jerry was born May 3, 1932, at the Postville Hospital, the son of Elmer and Marjorie (Kobriger) Hager.\u00a0 He was baptized on October 31, 1932, at the Frankville Community Presbyterian Church.\u00a0 On August 18, 1946, Rev. LaVerne Meinecke confirmed him at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-4398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obituaries","tag-hager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4398"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4410,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4398\/revisions\/4410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graufuneralhomes.com\/lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}