C. William Hager

C.W. (Chauncey William) "Bill" Hager of Dayton, Ohio, went to join his beloved wife, Ruth, and his maker on November 27, 2018, with family close at hand. C.W. was born August 12, 1929 in St. John, Kansas, the eldest son of J.D. and Mary (Delker) Hager. He and his four siblings grew up on a farm in Kansas during the great depression. C.W. recounted that he was the only student in his class each year in the little one-room schoolhouse. When he entered St. John High School in the town, he was painfully shy. He knew he loved to play the piano and visit his Uncle Gene and Aunt Olive's historic farmhouse, and that he hated to farm every day. Together with his wife, Ruth Marie (Weaver), he raised his family and lived in Dayton for over 60 years – many of those years in Oakwood, Ohio – a place that was revered, built up, appreciated and celebrated by C.W. Hager.

C.W. Hager was a talented, passionate, and generous man who was perhaps best known as the owner and Broker of Classics Realty Inc. located on Park Avenue in Oakwood for nearly four decades. But prior to he and his wife moving to Oakwood and buying 718 Harman Avenue as their residence in 1972, Hager had a full working experience. He studied pre-medicine and music for one year at University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. He enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years (Korean Conflict) and was honorably discharged in 1952. He then graduated in Business from Michigan State University and worked as Administrative Secretary for Quality Control at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he met an attractive young teacher and fellow-MSU graduate, musician and educator, Ruth Weaver. He and Ruth were married at the MSU Chapel May 26, 1956 and honeymooned in Medellin, Columbia, where Ruth's father, Dr. Earl Weaver, was setting up a Dairy Science Program. That trip inspired C.W. to study and practice his Spanish which he worked on throughout his life.

In 1958 C.W. accepted employment as a Store Manager at a new Sears & Roebuck store, so he moved his bride, Ruth (Weaver) Hager and newborn child, Mary Helene, to Dayton, Ohio. After several years at Sears, he accepted a position first as a Statistical Analysist with the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services, then as Manager of the Ohio Dayton Bureau of Employment Services in Dayton. During that time, the Hagers welcomed a second daughter, Michele Kathleen, and elected to move from East Dayton out to Clayton, Ohio, to a home they built. By the time their son, Grant William, was born in 1969, Ruth wanted to move into Oakwood and C.W. sought a career change. So, they purchased the Queen Anne's style 3-story home at 718 Harman, Hager studied for Real Estate sales licensing to open his own business and moved his young family to the city that C.W. would grow to love. Given Hager's prodigious energy in all things Oakwood, it can be estimated that at least 1/3 of all Oakwood residences were "touched" in one way or another by Broker C.W. Hager. C. W. was a gentleman perhaps from another era – he grew up in beautiful but old homes in St. John, Kansas, and had a deep love of old buildings and historic architecture rooted in visits to the Aunts and Uncles of his childhood. While he may have had humble beginnings growing up as a farmer at the start of the Depression in a tiny Kansas town, he evolved to find himself at home in the stateliest of mansions and with people of all walks of life and from all over the globe. He genuinely was fascinated by the high-powered doctors and executives and middle-class transplants that made Oakwood their home, and he worked diligently to learn languages and phrases to better help him assist and connect with all his clients. In addition to his love of languages, his love of music was another thread that ran through his years – he laughed that he had taken piano lessons for over 68 years! He had eclectic tastes, but he reverently played Chopin, Beethoven, and all manner of beautiful music – whether classical or contemporary. His love of music led him to befriend fellow musician, Oakwood "pioneer" and near recluse, Ethel Romspert, in the 1970s. Impressed with this young President of the Oakwood Historical Society, his musical ability, his leadership activities with the nascent National Trust movement in Washington, DC, and the Ohio Historical Society, and likely impressed with this charming, sincere young man who could play a baby grand with aplomb, the aged Mrs. Romspert elected to donate her two buildings along Far Hills Avenue to the Oakwood Historical Society, making the formal offer to C.W. Hager with an extremely short time requirement. One of the two buildings is now the formal museum and headquarters of the Oakwood Historical Society known as the Long-Romspert Homestead on Far Hills Avenue. Would Mrs. Romspert decide to donate her longtime homestead to another person? Perhaps. But no doubt the earnest kindred spirit she found in C.W. Hager convinced her to make a very generous donation to the future of the community, and C.W. had the energy to bring it to the small Society with a two-hour time limit to "make it work." And C.W. and his friends on the Society pulled together the legal documents and made the donation a reality. Mrs. Romspert apparently was a wise woman, and she passed away confident that her beloved homestead properties would live on into the future.

In the 1990s, Hager became the president of The Preservation Alliance of Ohio a private, non-profit organization that sought to put people in touch with whatever organization that could help them solve their historical architectural and rehab problems. Hager opened his growing Classics Realty, Inc. office to his colleague and friend, area historian Professor Loren Gannon, who provided historic expertise and training background to Mr. Hager. As volunteer President of the Ohio Preservation Alliance, Hager worked on the renovation of the Statehouse in Columbus helping to bridge some of the direct conflict with preservationists and legislators on the proposed additions and alterations. While working on the Alliance, his work on Oakwood historic homes led him to realize that there were not enough skilled tradespersons who could complete the artisan crafts needed to lovingly and carefully restore and repair the older homes. He saw early on the gap between owners of large commercial buildings who could perhaps afford higher rehab costs, and owners of smaller residential homes who could not. Seeing that need, Hager lobbied to set up a State-wide apprentice program that could help increase labor supply and cut expenses for the quality rehab of historic properties. His hard work and vision, along with others such as Robert Loversidge, led to the creation of a two-year Building Preservation/Restoration (BPR) at Belmont College in St. Clairsville. The BPR program is designed to teach students the basic trades that are used to preserve and restore historic structures – much as Hager envisioned it decades back. Hager helped write the Director's job description and recruited David Merz who became the first Director and later Chancellor of the 2-year accredited program of the OU Branch Campus in Belmont, Ohio. Mr. Merz built the program into one of the oldest and most recognized programs of its kind in the nation. In his work with BPR, Hager drew upon his first career in the 1960s as a statistician and then Manager of the Dayton Bureau of Employment Services for the State of Ohio. As the Dayton Bureau Manager, Hager worked with schools, employers, and joint vocational colleges to provide training to students and deliver qualified workers to the area's large and small employers. He had the distinction of setting up staffing trailer sites for both the Clayton Mall, and the Dayton Mall back in the 1960s. In an email of 2005, Chancellor Merz gave credit for the Ohio University Artisan School in Ohio Preservation Trades to C. Wm. Hager and Robert Loversidge for its success. Not content to focus only on the state and federal side of historic preservation, Hager turned to preservation closer to home and hearth – he worked with Barbara Powers of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office in Columbus, Professor Loren Gannon, and set his office staff to inventory a 130-acre district of The Schantz Park Historic District, Oakwood's first national historic district. In 1992 he saw it placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Schantz Park was an important reflection of an early 20th century neighborhood and development and included 394 houses, 50 of which were used to show architectural significance. Hager and his staff inventoried the homes and talked with owners and the state and researched the area painstakingly – all financed by C. William Hager and his company. Few people realize what a gift he provided to the City of Oakwood and to the greater Dayton area. Jane Ware, author of Building Ohio – A Travelers Guide to Ohio's Urban Architecture, did recognize Hager. Ware mentioned "Oakwood architectural preservationist C. William Hager as a guiding light in the move toward National Register surveys in the Oakwood area and the Schantz Park District' recognition as Oakwood's first historic district in 1992." Ware also wrote that "Hager has found Oakwood to be quite skittish on preservation; in 1997 the historical society barred National Register activities" – likely one reason Hager and other passionate Oakwood preservationists such as Marlene Maimon branched out into an Oakwood Preservation Trust to continue inventory efforts, and to fight a proposed demolition of the Oakwood City Hall located on Park Avenue. Hager brought along supportive residents, and successfully overturned the demolition effort heroically and at great personal cost. The Oakwood Preservation Trust eventually forced a city referendum vote which resulted in the Oakwood City Council abandoning their demolition contracts, and instead awarding an architectural contract to restore the beautiful building which now serves Oakwood fire, ambulance, and police department needs while adding beauty and grace to Oakwood's commercial district on Park Avenue, Oakwood. In May 2005, the Oakwood Preservation Trust wrote a letter to the community stating, "Much credit goes to those, especially Bill Hager, who in January 2001 with OPT members, effectively mobilized the community to oppose the teardown." Hager, along with his patient and supportive wife of 63 years, Ruth, spent their annual vacation on trips attending early National Trust Conferences across the nation. In the early 70s and 80s the National Trust conferences were sparsely attended with preservation pioneers such as Hager brushing elbows with persons such as Clem Levine, the editor of "This Old House Journal," and illuminaries like Lady Bird Johnson in San Antonio, Texas. Hager often subsidized his staff and family to attend the training conferences, thus "growing" a whole new generation or two of preservationists.

Somewhere along the way, Hager took the time to sell thousands of houses, mostly in Oakwood, but nearly all with historic significance. He was an early "numbers cruncher" and always kept meticulous records of homes sold, square footage and amenities – virtually any appraiser in Oakwood would contact him for the helpful statistics he kept each year. This was before the age of Zillow and decades before the internet. He was the rare person that could handle statistics, and handle the needs of his clients with diligence, hard work, knowledge, and credibility. He and his Classics Realty, Inc. gave generously to the Oakwood School Foundation. Hager was a member of the Oakwood Optimists for several years – and optimism was clearly a strength of his. No matter how bad the economy was at times in Dayton and Oakwood, Hager kept serving clients, caring for the stories of the beautiful homes he sold, and building young realtors. Hager trained many of the Dayton's top realtors and historic preservationists and bankers who worked their first jobs in his office. Hager was the expert on all things Oakwood – including the Oakwood Manor condos of which he served as a defacto Property Manager for years. Toward the end of Hager's career, he grew weary of the cyclical nature of Real Estate sales full-time and he went to another pursuit – substitute part-time teaching for the Dayton Public Schools for 12 years. Students from all over the City recognized him on the street and thanked him for bringing music, classical training and dignity to their classes. Hager, up to the very end of his fight with vascular dementia, dressed to the hilt in a suit and tie and Florsheims, driving his beloved silver Mercedes around Oakwood and Kettering.

Clearly, it is difficult to summarize the many accomplishments of Mr. Hager. He was recognized by Forbes as one of the Dayton area's top ten Realtors, and featured (front cover) in the Dayton Area Board of Realtors monthly magazine in November 1998. He received an Honorary Citizen Service Award on April 7, 2007 from the Oakwood FOP Lodge #107 for his many years of support to the officers and to the service in the Oakwood/Kettering Community. For over 20 years he dressed as Big Bird and marched in the That Day in May parades, and until just the past few years he took part annually in the Oakwood Easter Egg Hunt where he played a prominent, if not hidden, role thrilling children for many decades.

C.W. laughed that he had taken piano lessons for over 68 years, and it showed. He played recitals with his daughter in the late 1970s, and in his later years he played at area nursing homes and churches. C.W. was distressed when the South Park Church was sold and closed – he and his wife spent many years affiliated with South Park, and he had helped with fundraisers for the organ restoration project. If he had been in better health, he likely would have worked to save that building, too.

While C.W. was considered by his family to be a bit like the "Energizer Bunny," working 100 hour weeks for years on end, he nonetheless made indelible imprints on all three of his children where they learned to work hard from his professional efforts; his eldest, Mary, launching her career at his office before she went to the City of Dayton, and his youngest son, Grant William, who started a successful landscaping company at the age of 12. Mary received an "Ohio's Best Public Leader in Historic Revitalization" Award by Heritage Ohio on October 17, 2017. CW was in attendance at the special event held at the Statehouse, receiving a standing ovation by all in attendance for his long history in preservation.

Bill is survived by his loving children, Mary Helene (Michael Eugene) Crockett, Michele Kathleen (Garth Sterrett) Finch, and Grant William (Kimberlee Dawn Stomps) Hager, and grandchildren Nathan Earl Rogers, Jason Rutledge Finch, Rachel Anna Finch, Parker Grant Hager. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Ruth Hager; and brother, John Hager.

A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will take place on Saturday, December 8, 2018, at 1:30 pm at Newcomer South Chapel, 3940 Kettering Blvd, Moraine, Ohio. A Gathering of family and friends will immediately follow. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Heritage Ohio, 846 E Main St, Columbus, OH 43205 or Oakwood Historical Society, 1947 Far Hills Ave, Dayton, Ohio 45419.

To leave condolence messages for the family, please visit www.NewcomerDayton.com.