William Augustus Hagner

Raymond- William Augustus Hagner (known fondly in childhood as Gus, later as Bill), 90, died peacefully on May 30th at Exeter Hospital surrounded by his loving family. William marvelled that the first high school graduation he ever attended was at age thirty-five, awarding diplomas as Supervising Principal of NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) American High School in Casteau, Belgium. He had lied about his age to enlist in the California National Guard at sixteen, then secured his mother’s age waiver to properly enlist in the U.S. Navy at seventeen and serve as a Radarman aboard USS ISHERWOOD (DD-520) during the Korean War. A native of Northport, New York, he fell in love with New England during ship repair at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston and, upon his honorable discharge, attended Plymouth Teachers College (now Plymouth State University) on the GI Bill, catching for the varsity baseball team, scoring the first-ever goal of its Men’s Soccer program in 1957, and graduating in 1959. William moved quickly through teaching assignments in Jaffrey and Warren, New Hampshire and Nyack, New York, where he drove a taxi on weekends while earning his MEd at Seton Hall University. After a year as Assistant Principal of Enosburg Falls (Vermont) High School he accepted a Ford Foundation fellowship at Bucknell University, travelling nationwide to study rural school best practices. In 1968 he accepted an offer from Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) and moved his young family to Bitburg, Germany, serving in principalships there, at SHAPE, and at London Central High School in High Wycombe, England before a yearning to teach full-time pulled him back into the classroom permanently in 1975. His DoDDS career would take him to teaching assignments in Naples and Sigonella, Italy; Zama and Misawa, Japan; and Wuerzburg, Germany. He served actively in DoD affiliates of the National Education Association and as President of the Overseas Education Association, Pacific, and he was a devoted SCUBA tourist and PADI-certified Assistant Dive Instructor. He sought conversance in the languages of his host nations and, in retirement, taught himself Swedish adequate for a visit to his ancestral homeland. Upon his retirement to Dover in 1994 he earned his merchant mariner’s credential as an Able Seaman, sailing with various companies under contract with the Seafarers International Union and carrying military cargo to Turkey aboard USNS BELLATRIX in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. After a decade’s residence in Ocala, Florida he returned permanently to Raymond, NH in 2012. There, William enjoyed reading, solving crosswords, and watching campy 1950s and ‘60s westerns (and Svengoolie) on MeTV. He published a very candid and readable memoir in 2016 (A Moving Story Memoirs Of An Overseas Educator, ISBN-13: 978-0-692571-57-6). William could be disarmingly at ease to offer people in his midst a presumption of good will and the confidence to extend their trust. Strangers were unaccustomed to introductory utterances so quick and dense with friendliness that they would momentarily stand there stunned, unpacking it all, as pure delight came across their faces and they declared themselves in love with him on the spot. William is survived by his wife of thirty four years, Lynn Brown Hagner; his daughter Kathy Cavallaro, son-in-law Donald and grandsons Parker and Truman Cavallaro of Rye; son David Hagner and daughter-in-law Nancy and granddaughter Alexandra Hagner of Greenland, NH; first wife Deborah Johnson of Rye, NH; sister Lillian Allard of Suffern, NY, nephews Nicholas Allard of Washington, DC, Michael Allard of Henderson, NV, and Andy Allard of Ridgewood, NJ; nieces Amy Allard of Ridgewood, NJ and Heather Pampolina of Suffern, NY. Additional family members include his brother-in-law Scott Brown and wife Johannah of Franklin, NH, nieces Katie Brown of Franklin, NH, Elizabeth Cross and husband Josh of Altus, OK, and Diana Gailunas and husband John of Epsom, NH. He is predeceased by his father Clarence Hagner and his mother Edna Shermer Grossman and his Brother-in-law Nicholas Allard. William will be interred at the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery, Boscawen, New Hampshire during a private ceremony. Memorial contributions may be made to the Plymouth State University athletics program at https://give.plymouth.edu/athletics.

William Augustus Hagner

August 31, 1934 - May 30, 2025