This obituary was published in the Mercer County (Missouri) Mirror when Hubert died and was later published in the Princeton (Mercer Co, Missouri) Post-Telegraph.

Hubert himself largely wrote this:

Hubert Dewain Hagan was born on September 25th, 1911, north of the Freedom Church in the two-story family home on the "Freedom Farm", located on Rt B near Saline. He passed away Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at Eastview Care Center where he had been a resident since December 31st, 2008. Hubert was the sixth of ten children of James Stuart and Bessie Mabel (Mark) Hagan and the third son. He was 97 years old. A Celebration of Life service was held at Bethel Church on Saturday, March 7th.

Hubert attended the Center School in Saline through the eighth grade. He and his brothers often made their own toys and games and loved to walk to school on homemade stilts, some of which were tall enough to step over a clothesline. He learned a good work ethic on the family farm. To his three younger brothers and one younger sister, he was their defender and protector, and they all looked up to him. On Saturday night, they socialized and attended movies in the big town of "Plednon" (Pleasanton) while their parents sold eggs, butter, and other produce. On Sundays, the family attended church services at Bethel Church and each of the children brought friends home for the noon meal. It was not uncommon to have fifty people come for Sunday "dinner".

Following a large tent revival, Hubert, along with all his brothers and sisters, was baptized in Little River two miles east of the Bethel Church. Hubert was a life long member of Bethel Church where he attended faithfully and served on church and cemetery boards and wherever -needed. Hubert's Great-great Grandma and Great-great-Grandpa Taylor and Great-great Grandma and Great-great-Grandpa Mark were charter members of Bethel Church and now Hubert's daughter Donna, his grandsons, Nicholas and Ryan, and all six of his great-grandchildren attend there.

Following graduation from the eighth grade, Hubert spent the next few years working in the harvest fields of South Dakota and Minnesota as well as working on various farms near the family home.

In 1934 & 35, he and Wallace Griffin owned and ran a restaurant in Mercer called "The Golden Rule" with help from Wallace's sisters Clara and Elvenore. It was first located on the east side of the square where the current restaurant is located, later moving to the building that now houses "The Mirror". Hamburgers and a bottle of pop sold for five cents each. During this time, Hubert rented a room in the old hotel building on the S.E. corner of the Mercer square.

Hubert, his brother Carl, brother, Mervil, wife Veta, their two children, Athel and Ovid, Veta's brother, Chuck Trembly and Carl Merrit spent about three years living in Oregon and Washington State where he worked irrigating potato fields, topping beets, picking fruit and doing odd jobs. They lived in tents and always enjoyed their time together in spite of the hardships.

In 1936, Hubert recalled traveling out west in a Model T with Cecil Griffin, Wales Elliott and his brother, Ferril. The car had room for three up front and a rumble seat in back for two. During inclement weather, someone had to sit on someone's lap or get wet. Cecil, who owned the car, would only drive 25 miles per hour, because, according to him, it wasn't "safe" to drive any faster.

For 25 cents, Hubert ordered a book from Montgomery Ward and learned to wire houses. He and his brother Carl wired the home place on RT P where John and Illia Howerton now live. They went on to wire numerous houses and never had one that did not pass inspection the first time.

During WWII, Hubert knew that he was about to be drafted and decided to join the Navy, only to be turned down because of his flat feet. Inducted into the Army Air Force on May 23, 1942 at Jefferson Barracks in St Louis, after aptitude testing, Hubert had a choice between learning to defuse bombs and becoming a mechanic. Hubert served as a mechanic on B-17 Bombers, a plane later made famous by the movie Memphis Belle. From St. Louis, he went to Glendale, California where he attended Curtis Wright Technical Institute. Hubert was always proud that his class tested as well or better than the civilians whose course of study lasted twice as long as the military classes. His training took him to Burbank and on to Salt Lake City where he was inducted into the 351st Bomb Group. In El Paso, Texas, he worked on the planes used to train flight crews.

While in El Paso, Clark Gable was also assigned to the 351st. Hubert told his mother, I don't know where I'm going, I won't be able to tell you where I am once I get there, but if you'll follow Clark Gable's travels, you'll at least have an idea of where I'm stationed." His relatives received V-mail from Hubert telling them that he'd seen Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart while stationed in England and he had a photo that he took of Gable and the rest of his crew in front of their plane, Lucifer Jr.

He left New York City on the Queen Elizabeth on May 3rd, and arrived in England on May 12th, 1943. Every seven minutes the ship changed course so the German subs could not lock on the ship as a target. The ship's kitchen could barely keep up with crowded ship although they were only serving two meals per day. Every other day the men had a bunk to sleep in, and the next day they slept wherever they could find a place. Men slept in every available space, including the bottom of the drained swimming pool.

He was stationed at Polebrook Air Force Base near Peterborough, England along with Clark Gable, Gable served as a photographer making documentary films for the war effort. Gable also served as a waist gunner when necessary.

Before his departure on June 14, 1945, Hubert attained the rank of sergeant and crew leader. After the war, he recalled flying over Europe on a sightseeing tour to view the damage that their bombers had inflicted. He recalled that he had the best view because he got to ride in the nose gunner position in the Plexiglas nose. It was the only time he flew in a B-17, a plane that held a great fascination for him the rest of his life. Two of his planes were My Princess and Shady Lady.

His return trip, also on the Queen Elizabeth was four days shorter because they no longer had to worry about German subs. On June 27, he received a grand welcome in New York City; they were the first soldiers to arrive home from England. He received his honorable discharge on September 30th, 1945.

Upon his return to Mercer County, he purchased an H Farmall tractor, a 50T Farmall hay baler with automatic twine tie and other equipment, which arrived in crates. It took him nearly a year to assemble it all. No one had seen a baler before and it was just a pile of parts. He did custom work off and on over the years, cutting silage and custom baling hay from Trenton MO to Leon IA. He wore out two spinner knobs on his tractor the first year when he baled all day every day during hay season. He also farmed with his dad and attended school on the GI Bill.

Hubert had a number of young nieces and nephews by this time and he was their favorite uncle because mom and dad would always allow them to ride with Uncle Hubert to a church function, a party, or a movie, and he was great fun.

Hubert always said that he would have married sooner, but every woman he knew was married to one of his brothers or cousins, or was related to him.

In 1950 at the ripe old age of 38, Hubert started a new phase of his life when he married (Gladys) Elaine Hart on February 26, 1950 in Princeton, MO. They began their married life tenant farming the first year on the Earl Hagan farm, currently owned by Fayne Furhman. The house still stands.

They moved to Trenton MO for two years where Hubert tenant farmed. It wasn't long before another woman entered his life; a little dark haired cherub who he named Norma Lea was born on February 1st, 1951. Later a little blonde caught his eye when Patsy Anne was born on July 27, 1952. Six weeks after Patsy's birth, Elaine nearly died with complications following gallbladder surgery. Hubert's sister, Avis Larason lovingly cared for their little ones while Elaine was hospitalized in Princeton and later, Kirksville.

They rented a farm at the junction of RT E and 139 near Newtown in 1954. In 1956, he purchased a 240-acre farm from Dewey and Jewel Hagan one mile south of the Bethel Church. Two more loves entered his life. In 1957, Clifford Dewain was born on June 25th. On August 20th, 1959, Donna Fay joined the family.

Shortly after Donna's birth when a tornado destroyed every building on the farm except the house and a small grain storage building in September of 1959, Hubert rebuilt all the buildings, including a 20 stall farrowing barn, meticulously building all the farrowing crates himself. Hubert was an excellent carpenter, mechanic, welder and craftsman, who could build or make just about anything and always took the time to do things right. In 1970, he purchased one of the first no-till planters in Mercer County to use on his farm and did custom no-till planting.

He retired in 1978 at the age of 67, selling the farm to his niece, Illia, and husband John Howerton after building a new home in Princeton. It was then that he took up woodcarving, a hobby from his earlier years, tediously making numerous beautifully hand-carved signs, plaques and clocks, most of which he gave away as gifts. A true artisan, he crafted his own wood carving tools, creating them from old saws and files. He spent numerous hours in his basement workshop where he built jigs for his tools along with storage cabinets and mobile workbenches for his power tools, all meticulously crafted.

At 85, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery, the oldest patient to have surgery that day he was the first out of recovery, the first out of intensive care, and the first to come home. In 1997, he was seriously injured when he broke six of the seven vertebrae in his neck during a car accident. The doctors predicted that he would not survive. He returned home after a month in the hospital and wore a halo vest for six weeks.

In February of 2000, Hubert and Elaine celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, with Hubert being the tenth of ten children to celebrate a golden wedding anniversary. In late March of that same year, Hubert traveled with daughters Norma and Donna, his sister Avis Larason, niece Illia Howerton, and his brother, Ferril and wife Annabel Hagan to Costa Mesa, California to visit their brother, Carl and wife Louise Hagan. It was the last time he saw his brother and the first time he'd visited California since being there during WWII. While in California, he delighted in touring the Queen Mary, a sister ship to the Queen Elizabeth that took him to and from England.

He and Elaine celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on February 26th of 2009.

Hubert never smoked or drank, and at 85 boasted that he could still walk a 17-minute mile. He greatly enjoyed walking and his grandchildren have many fond memories of walking with granddad. His exercise bike, which he only rode when the weather was too bad to walk, registered 13,000 miles.

Hubert always enjoyed his work, saying if you've got to do it anyway, you might as well enjoy it, and you might as well do it right the first time so you don't have to do it over. Born before his time, he also said, "there's no such thing as men's work or women's work, its all work and it all has to be done, so just do it, and while you're at it, enjoy yourself." Hubert enjoyed making beds, vacuuming, drying dishes, and patching his overalls. His philosophy on life was you could decide to be happy wherever you were or be miserable, and happy was better.

Hubert had a great sense of humor, which served him well to the very end. He was a veracious learner. During winter months, when things weren't so busy on the farm he tried to learn everything he could about something new to him. He loved gadgets and new things, and could almost always make something a little better any time he bought something by modifying it "just a little". He loved to travel, explore, and see new things. He was always willing to help out a neighbor, relative, or friend and seldom wanted anything in return. A wonderful father, he always had time to drive his children to this or that, to repair a toy, or fix a bike and often made toys for them like the ones that he played with as a child. He thoroughly enjoyed his grandchildren and great-grandchildren and had lots of patience when spending time with them.

The thunder heard in Mercer County recently was all of his relatives and friends rushing to heaven's gates to welcome him home.

Hubert was proceeded in death by his parents, four brothers, Cecil, Mervil, Lloyd and Carl, four sisters, Irma Dunn, Lois Dunn, Avis Larason and Faye Kindred, sister-in-laws, Lenore (Gallatin) Hagan, Veta (Trembly) Hagan, and Mildred (Kindred) Hagan, brother-in-laws, Leo Dunn, Clell Dunn, Lloyd Larason, Clarence Kindred, Francis Hart, Clifford Hart, Willard Beard, George Barratt and a number of nieces and nephews.

Hubert is survived by his wife, Elaine of the home; one brother, Ferril and Annibel (Kirkpatrick) Hagan of Trenton and Louise (Phillips) Hagan of Oxnard, California; sister in laws, Pauline (Hart) Beard of Pleasanton, Marjory (Hart) Barratt of Maryville, and Jean (Hart) Courter and husband Frank of Kansas City, and Naomi Tucker Hart of Independence. Other survivors are daughters, Norma Sollman and husband, Fred, Patsy Abernathy and husband Dan of Kansas City, MO; son Clifford Hagan, and daughter Donna Covey and husband Mike of Princeton; four grandchildren, Nicholas Covey and wife, Amanda of Princeton, Shawn Sollman, Angela Sollman of Kansas City, Ryan Covey of Princeton and Ryan's fiancé, Amber Hipple of Ft Worth Texas, six great-grandchildren, Andrew, Clarissa and Amelia Covey and Mallorye, Andrew and Johnthan Birge. Nieces Beverly Grove and husband Bob, Illia Howerton and husband John, nephews, Wilbur Larason and wife Ruth, Danny Hagan and wife Brenda, a number of first cousins, as well as other nieces and nephews and their families far to numerous to mention.

The family suggests memorial donations to Bethel Church or the Bethel Cemetery.

This poem was read at his funeral:

Hubert wore the sunshine in his farmer's tan,

Beneath his fingernails, he wore the soil of his land.

He wore his determination in the lines in his face,

Each day he worked hard and at a steady pace.

He wore his pride well as he stood tall

Because each day he knew, he gave his all.

He wore his love for the open skies,

In an ongoing twinkle in his eyes.

He wore his happiness from within,

In his little jokes that always gave us, and him, a little grin.

The wonderful stories and tales that he told

Are now more precious to us than silver or gold

His generous heart was as big as the great outdoors

A man with a heart like that could never be poor

A neighbor in need, he was ready to help out

You could count on him without a doubt.

He enjoyed his work, from beginning to end, and more

Always have fun was his motto, no matter the chore

He worked hard daybreak to night,

And was rewarded with some wonderful sights.

Standing in the barn door while the sun was setting low

With all its colors peacefully radiating their glow.

The smell of supper on the table as the sun went down

A smile from Elaine and his family all around

After the miracle of birth, a moment of pay

The joy of watching a new baby calf at play.

Spring is a time when a farmer's expectations grow,

As the seeds of life, Hubert would carefully sow.

The reward of looking out across his land

At his crops and cattle made him a rich man.

For not all wealth is measured with money and possessions you see,

Hubert knew that true wealth was home, health, friends and family.

He spent time traveling the world and sea,

He possessed everything that a man could want to be.

But worldly possessions weren't that important to dad

For a rich man he was when Norma, Patsy, Clifford, and Donna called him Dad . . .

This second poem was also read:

I like to walk with Grandpa
His steps are short like mine ..
He doesn’t say “Now hurry up!”
He always takes his time.

Most people have to hurry
They do not stop and see ..
I’m glad that God made Grandpa
unrushed and young like me.