Melbourne Charles Hagen passed away on Saturday, December 12 at Fair Meadow Nursing Home, Fertile, Minnesota. He was 94.

Mel was born April 10, 1921 to Adele Julianna (Nelson) and Charles Carl Gragert at the farm home of his maternal grandparents In Grove Park Township near Mentor, Minnesota. He was baptized at West Wild Rice Lutheran Church near Twin Valley and confirmed at Union Lake Lutheran Church. Mel attended rural Pleasant View District 52 School in Norman County through the eighth grade when his family moved to a farm northwest of Winger, Minnesota. Mel took the surname of his stepfather, Richard Hagen. Mel graduated from McIntosh High School and in 1939 he enrolled at Bemidji State College and earned his teaching degree in 1941. Mel taught rural school for three years, beginning in Pleasant View District 52, and later at Grove School near Perley, Minnesota. A dedicated teacher, he often worked during after school hours to provide tutorial assistance to his students. After all these years Mel remained in contact with his former students, including one in New Mexico and two in Norman County who called or visited him at Fair Meadow. Mel enjoyed listening to their recollections from school days, about when he played songs on the guitar and not to mention that they considered him their favorite teacher.

Mel's teaching career ended during World War II when he served for a brief period in the U. S. Army Air Corps at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. In 1944 he accepted a job with a contractor in charge of a runway extension project at an Army Air Force Base on Shemya Island in the Aleutians in territorial Alaska. Later Mel moved to the nearby island of Adak where he worked in civil service with the transportation dispatch office for the Army. When the U.S. Navy took over the base, Mel became supervisor of fuel distribution and worked in this capacity for 24 years until his retirement in 1967. Mel received numerous performance awards and was recognized by the Department of Defense for his outstanding work.

Mel met Ann Bernice Colebank while attending Bemidji State and they were married five years later at Maple Lake Lutheran Church on June 26, 1946. Mel and Ann raised their family of three children on Adak. Mel was active in the scouts and PTA.

When Mel retired in 1967 the family returned to Fertile, Minnesota. Following the death of Ann's parents in 1975 and with their children no longer at home, Mel and Ann returned to Adak for additional six years. In 1982 they moved to Anchorage, Alaska where Mel resided until May 2011 when he moved to the Fair Meadow Nursing Home.
Mel often spoke highly of his six grandchildren and was so very proud of their many and varied accomplishments. Mel was as proud of his new cars as he was of his family. He especially cherished his first car, a 51 Black Cherry Champion Studebaker with traction control and rear seat heater. The car was a special order and delivered to the Colebank farm as a surprise for Ann.

Mel's family and friends enjoyed his sense of humor and idiosyncrasies, sometimes fondly referred to as "Melbourneisms." Mel loved music, spending hours listening to Daniel O'Donnell gospel and viewing weekly Lawrence Welk shows. At Fair Meadow he formed a close relationship with many of the nurses and staff.

Mel is survived by his wife Ann, daughter Janice (Greg) Gullickson, Anchorage, AK, and two sons Reid (Grace), Fertile and Brent (Maureen), Portland, OR; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; half brother Dick (Marion) Hagen, Sierra Vista, AZ and a cousin, Jack (Pat) Gragert , Peoria, AZ. Mel was preceded in death by his parents and half sister Ardis (Phillip) Parker.

Funeral services will be on Saturday, December 19, 2015, at 11 AM in the Hope Evangelical Free Church, Fertile, MN.

Visitation will be one hour before services at the church.

Burial will be in the Fertile City Cemetery, Fertile, MN.