Sad loss of two wonderful people

When you met Don and Ruth Hagan for the first time, you had no idea how much they had accomplished in their life.

They were just that kind of people. "They were true grit kind of folks," their friends said. "They told it like it was and their word was their bond."

Following their deaths Tuesday in an automobile accident near Holbrook, friends and employees spoke glowingly and affectionately of the Hagans, who rose from hardship in their early years of marriage to vast trucking and farming interests in their later years.

At the time of his death, the trucking company that Don Sr. helped his sons start had grown to 40 company-owned trucks and 50 employees. In addition, the Hagan family holds extensive farmland interests in Hitchcock County.

"I have great respect for the Hagans and what they were able to accomplish," a neighbor and friend, Ted Rippen, said. "They were very supportive of the Culbertson community. Whenever you had a project in need of support, the first place you went was to Hagan & Sons Trucking and they always came through."

Another thing that impressed Ted and the others who knew the Hagans was their strong family connections. "There was always family close by when Don and Ruth were around," said the Hagan staff. "I met Don Sr. later in life and the only thing I ever heard him called was 'Grandpa Hagan,'" Michelle Seeker said.

Showing his human side, Don Sr. sometimes played Santa Claus at the company's Christmas party. And, late in life, after he was on oxygen, he sat in his pickup at the corner of the track to watch the stock car action at the Hitchcock County Fairgrounds.

"The Hagans are a true rags to riches story. They started on a poor quarter in a house without windows," Rippen said. But through a combination of hard work, perseverance, firm principles and fortunate happenings, the Hagans rose to prominence in the farming and trucking industry.

"They worked hard and they played by the rules," their friends and neighbors said. "And their word was like gold. You could count on whatever they told you."

We are sad to lose two special people, Don and Ruth Hagan. But we are glad they lived and grateful for all they gave their family and their community.