O'HAGAN, Clark Daniel

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona Wednesday, October 10, 2012 Clark Daniel O’Hagan, born May 16 1918, passed Aug. 20, 2012. “Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised.” Luke 2:29 Clark O’Hagan was born in 1918 in Coatesville, Penn., to Bessie White Hagan of Pennsylvania and Daniel O’Hagan, who had come from Donegal, Ireland, in 1910. Clark was the oldest of four siblings - his sisters Helen Elizabeth Hagan and Jeanne Hagan Frank, and his brother Jack (John) Hagan have preceded him to heaven, as well as their parents. His wife Ginny (Virginia Howard O’Hagan) was in heaven to greet him after 64 years of devoted marriage. She passed away July 26, 2010. Clark, then called Buddy at home and Danny everwhere else, grew up in the steel mill town west of Philadelphia, where he was active in the Presbyterian Church and the YMCA. At 17, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps (later the Air Force) and began a 20-year career as a flight engineer, which took him to the Pacific. He was at Hickham Air Field, next to Pearl Harbor, on that morning that changed history - Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. He was presented a Purple Heart for a shrapnel injury he received while his crew scrambled - unsuccessfully - to get their B29 aircraft out of the hangar. In 1945 he left the military for a while. Sherwin Williams Pains in Oakland, Calif., became the matchmaker that brought him the love of his life, Ginny Howard, a secretary from Marshalltown, Iowa. They married on June 16, 1946, shortly after he reenlisted in the Air Force. Their romance lasted more than 64 years, until Ginny’s death in 2010, and it is now renewed in paradise just over two years later. Their son Kim Howard O’Hagan was born Oct. 27, 1947, at Hamilton Field, Calif. Clark entrusted his wife and son to the Air Force community in Spokane, Wash., while he served in the Korean War. Daughter Kathleen was born four years later on Dec. 31, 1951, this time at another air base in Kansas. After a few more air bases, including Puerto Rico, Clark retired from the military in 1956. After a brief stint back in the paint business, he became an air traffic controller and relocated to Albuquerque, N.M., where his family grew up. He and Ginny retired again in 1973 and started following the R.V. lifestyle. They stopped to work a few times, retiring again and again, “until we got it right.” They lived in several R.V.s and traveled full-time for more than 25 years before settling into a house without wheels in North Ranch, near Congress. During all their years together, Clark and Ginny were both devoted Christians, always involved in church, prayer groups, and occasionally choirs. Their priorities were always rooting in the faith, and they were quick to proclaim it. Clark and Ginny were active members of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg. They were among the hardy group of individuals who built the SKP community of North Ranch. They lived there until their graduations to eternal life. However, following Ginny’s death, Clark spent most of his time in the home of his son Kim and daughter-in-law Sylvia in Santa Marta, Colombia, South America, where they administer an English-language school. He was there, surrounded by people who loved him, when he took his final breath in August. In addition to church, Clark was a loving father, grandfather to four, and great-grandfather to six. Son Kim brought three children to the family - Jennie (husband Dan) Korneychuk, stepdaughters Sasha and Lara, and daughter Madeline. Daughter Lorelei is married to Michael Strange. Son Tim and his wife Mutsumi have two daughters, Juno and Kenzie. Clark’s daughter Kathleen has a daughter, Stacey Ramos, who with her husband Abraham, have a son Alan. Clark also has many nieces and nephews, and numerous cousins including many in Ireland. Clark was also an Elk, a Cursillista, an avid Trekkie, and a voracious reader. He loved to learn new things and happily never ran out of new material. (He often said his head was full of useless information.) His memorial celebration will be at St. Alban’s on Friday, Nov. 23 at 11 a.m. Interment of his ashes will be at the church’s columbarium aided by a USAF honor guard. A fellowship lunch will follow in the parish hall. Clark and Ginny will be there, so please stop in to say hello.