Terrain V01 - Journal - Page 46
44 | Sterling College
Sterling School Pioneers
Mourn Nurse Hagen
Written By
Peter Albert McKay ‘63
“The Class of 1961 wishes to dedicate this
yearbook to Sterling School’s “Angel of
Mercy,” Mrs. Hagen. As school nurse, she
unselfishly tended to our ills from colds
to fractured shoulders, day and night
dispensing medicine and encouragement
to all. Her ever present smile and kind
words will remain with us forever.”
- Dedication in the 1961
Sterling School Yearbook
Those Sterling School Pioneers, then
aged 14-18, who passed through Sterling
School together between 1958 and 1964
have been the beneficiaries of memories
of people whose humanity and character have proved to be unforgettable for
us all in these succeeding years.
Our Sterling School nurse, Ginny Hagen
was such a person.
David Behrend ‘60 recalled “A distinctively warm presence – she had an aura
of goodness, a spirit that I can never forget. The students gravitated to the infirmary to bask in her warmth - to cure
their homesickness.”
Denny Rossiter ‘60 wrote “To this day,
like many of you, I have very fond memories of Ginny and was happy to see that
she lived a long and happy life. The Pioneers tribute is a wonderful idea and
certainly fitting for a person we all hold
dear in our memories.”
of the lives of her friends buried there
who were obviously very much still alive
in Ginny’s heart as she spoke of them.
And so, Ginny will remain alive in our
hearts in much the same way. She will be
with us in spirit. We will recall her gentle
soul, her kindness, her goodness, and-above all--her protective maternal care
for the young men under her charge
long ago at the Sterling school. When we
call her to mind, we will once again feel
the protective care of our irreplaceable
Nurse Ginny Hagen, whom we lament
today on the sad occasion of her death.
Ned Druehl ’61 remembers Ginny’s
“endless hours … tending to my various
sports maladies as well ... when many of
us were inflicted with that virus, Echo-9.
I always felt she was a caring and motherly figure with tremendous empathy. We
were lucky to have her.”
The transcendent value of our memories
of her easily vanquishes the assumption
that the past is gone forever. The truth
is that our past memories of her stand
completely alone in the present.
Like the rest of you, I had the good fortune to benefit from Nurse Hagen’s care
in the infirmary - always “Nurse Hagen’s
infirmary” for me.
Such were our feelings when we first
learned that Ginny Hagen, RN - our nurse
at Sterling School - had died at a nursing
home in Newport, Vermont, at the age
of 95 on March, 19, 2021. Immediately
thereafter various Sterling School Pioneers emailed in their memories.
As you will remember everybody was Mr.
or Mrs. or Miss during our school years
and the first time I called her Ginny was
at a reunion 40 years after my graduation in October 2003. I would be lying if I
didn’t say that I felt awkward calling her
by her first name.
John Adams ‘61 remembers “A beautiful,
warm, and loving person to all of us in
her years at Sterling. Some will remember the infamous Echo-9 flu that cloistered many of those affected … the state
almost shut us down … Nurse Hagen was
at her best working with the state and
taking care of us who were sick… Nurse
Hagen was a surrogate mom to us all.
She will be remembered.”
I shall also never forget that in October
2008, at Sterling School’s 50th reunion,
I—along with Ted Hine ’63, Jon Goodrich
‘63, and Dick Lieber ’61—had the good
fortune to have Ginny as our guide when
we toured the Craftsbury cemetery in
her hometown.
We heard her very interesting thoughts,
spoken in her wistful and soft manner,
Save the Date
65th Sterling School Reunion
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13 &
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2023
Thank you to Christina Goodwin
and Micki Martin for their invaluable
assistance in making this message
possible along with making the Pioneers 2018 reunion such a success.
- Peter Albert McKay