Larry Hager

Larry Hager, 94, of Marshalltown, a man of strong faith and who loved to fly, left from this world when he boarded his flight to heaven at 11:47 p.m. on August 7th, at the Southridge Nursing and Rehab Center. Memorial services dedicated in Larrys memory and giving glory, honor and praise to God for a life well-lived will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, August 13th, at the Mitchell Family Funeral Home in Marshalltown. Visitation will be held one-hour prior to the services. He will be laid to rest in the Rock Island National Arsenal in Rock Island. Memorials may be directed to your favorite charity, or New Hope Christian School, Marshalltown Christian School, Hidden Acres Camp at Dayton, the Heritage Christian School in Parkview, Iowa, or Faith Community Church in Maquoketa. For condolences, please visit www.mitchellfh.com. Ph. (641)-844-1234. Born Lawrence Michael Hager on June 10th, 1921, in Bellevue, Iowa, he was the son of William Bill and Clara (Deppe) Hager. The family moved to Maquoketa at a young age and he received his education there, including Junior College. Larry went on to serve our country honorably in the United States Army Air Corps from October of 1942 until the spring of 1946. While in Japan, he befriended a four-legged companion, Jack, the dog, which came home with him. Larry was like the one-fish that swam against the others in the school! Whenever someone would say something would not be possible, Larry knew it could with Gods blessing. He was able to be in the military though blind in the left eye, he never thought he would marry, but he did and he never thought they would have children, but God blessed all of these things. He also had a knack for turning negative to positive by slight changes of words. Mr. Hager was Mr. Maquoketa- a town he loved. He owned and operated a sign shop there for many years -funny thing was he never had a sign on his sign shop! He would never say he was an artist, even though he truly was. He faithfully supported his wifes teaching (33 years) at the Maquoketa Public Schools and later Heritage Christian School, where he was known as Mr. Larry at both places. When his health started to fail, the couple moved to Marshalltown to receive care at the Iowa Veterans Home. While in Maquoketa, he served as a volunteer fireman, fair parade chairman, and anything community minded. On the day after Christmas in 1972, he married the love of his life- Alice Bousselot, in Bellevue. With their three children, they all prayed the Sinners Prayer on November 3rd, 1983, and were saved as a family. Faith was very strong for him. Larry and Alice began their family with the blessing of adopting Bruce, who now lives in Davenport and soon had Laura Jensen (Donnie Jensen) now in Pahrump, Nevada, and Brock (Leah) now of Des Moines. They were further blessed with grandchildren Madison, Peyton, Drew, Miriam and Audrey. Larry is also survived by his sisters- Averle Wilson of Dubuque and Doly (Dick) Dommitta of Los Angeles, and four foreign exchange students. Preceding him in death were his parents, a brother William II, two infant sisters and a sister Vera Sissel.