TERREBONNE and LAFOURCHE Parishes, La.

OBITUARIY for HAGEN, VIRGINA   

Submitted by: Louis Lavedan

Source: Chauvin Funeral Home, Houma, La.

Died: Saturday, 3 August, 2013

=============================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml
=============================================================================

HAGEN, VIRGINA 
(Died August 3, 2013)

==========
A photo is available for this file. Please go to
http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafourche/obits/dateobits/2013/f1308.htm 
and click on the name of interest.
==========

Virginia Smith Hagen, wife of 47 years of the late Dr. W.J. Hagen, died at home 
on August 3, 2013.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, August 8, 2013 from 9:00 AM until service 
time at Maria Immacolata Catholic Church, Houma, Louisiana. Mass of Christian 
Burial will begin at 11:00 AM at the church. 

Private burial will be held at a later date.

She is survived by her only daughter Ellen Hagen Bunch and her husband Dr. 
Richard W. Bunch. Also sons Dr. David Lee Hagen and his wife Melissa, James L. 
Hagen III, Dr. Patrick C. Hagen and his wife Amy, and Matthew Hill Hagen and 
his wife Monique. She is survived by her brother Judge Benjamin Harrison Smith 
and his wife Lynn. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren and 2 great 
grandchildren.

Virginia Hagen is preceded in death by her beloved husband Dr. W.J. Hagen who 
died in 2000, and her son Stephen Wallace Hagen who died at the age of 12 in 
1971. She is also preceded in death by her parents Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Smith 
and one brother Cooper Smith.

Mrs. Hagen, known locally as “Mrs. Ginny”, was born in Waycross, Georgia to 
Benjamin and Maude Smith on January 3rd in 1932. She spent most of her life in 
Waycross, Georgia until leaving in 1949 after High School to travel to New 
Orleans to study nursing at Charity Hospital.

Virginia was called upon to represent Georgia in the very first ever “Gator 
Bowl’ which was in Jacksonville, Florida in 1948. Virginia was “Miss Georgia” 
in 1949.

She was accepted into the Charity Hospital School of Nursing which she entered 
in September 1949. Her love of “hands on” nursing guided her career in order to 
touch lives. While at school, she met Werner John Hagen and they married on 
June 9, 1953.

Virginia worked at Baptist Hospital on Napoleon Avenue and Touro Infirmary 
where she was a clinical instructor. With her growing family, she and her 
husband moved to Houma, Louisiana in 1960. While in Houma, she became involved 
with Sister Loyola who was sent to town to develop a home nursing care program 
for indigent families. Virginia always had several “adoptive families” and with 
the help of St. Vincent Society she was able to help the needy in the 
community.

Mrs. Ginny was loved by many and was very generous with her time. She was 
dedicated to making life better for the less fortunate and loved family, 
friends, cooking and laughing. She never met a stranger.

The life of being a true “giver” is that of a road less traveled. Ginny 
traveled this road which was a different and sometimes not so easy path of 
touching the lives of others. She was a parishioner with her husband for many 
years at Maria Immacolata Church in Houma. She leaves a legacy of touched lives 
that were made better because of her, along with the true realization to all 
that knew her that one life can make a big difference in this world.

In closing, the family would like to thank Clara Verdin, the caregivers, 
Terrebonne Home Care, Dr. Jules Dupont Jr., and Hospice of South Louisiana. The 
family would like to specifically thank Leslie Ellen Bunch R.N. (granddaughter) 
and Ellen Hagen Bunch, R.N. (daughter) for their devoted caretaking of Virginia 
Hagen over the last several years.

In lieu of flowers, Memorial donations may be made to the Smile Train- P.O. Box 
96231, Washington, D.C. 20090-6231.

Donations may also be made to the Stephen Hagen Memorial Library- St. Gregory 
Barbarigo Catholic School, 441 Sixth St., Houma, LA 70364

======================