John William Hagan

John William Hagan died on September 17, 2015. A beloved husband, father and grandfather, Hagan was a WWII veteran, civil engineer, Perry County Engineer, city councilman and District Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Hagan was born on August 1, 1924 in Tiltonsville, Ohio to parents Charles Patrick Hagan and Eva Easter (Wilson) Hagan. Friends and family knew him as Bill because, as his father explained, he arrived on the first of the month with the rest of the bills. Hagan graduated from Martins Ferry High School in 1942 and married classmate Blanche Scheehle after a wartime courtship on August 1, 1946. He was a Thornville resident for the past 45 years.During his 3 year WWII service, Hagan served in the Army Air Force in the Pacific theater operating a top secret navigation system that preceded todays GPS.Under the G.I. Bill, he earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Indiana Tech, took a position with ODOT and worked his way up to design engineer for ODOT in 1950. During that decade, he helped in the construction of the new interstate highway system, and served as project engineer of the Newark Expressway. In 1959, he was appointed deputy director of District 11 and became the first Chief Engineer of the newly formed Bureau of Planning.In 1970, Hagan was appointed Perry County Engineer. Voters elected him to office two more times during the 70s. He served the county residents for a total of ten years. In the 1980s, Hagan served as the Deputy Director of ODOT District 5 and oversaw the design and construction of the District 5 headquarters in Jacksontown.In his retirement, Hagan opened his own surveying business, John W. Hagan and Associates. He and his wife joined Freedom Years, a travel group for seniors, and later led a Freedom Years day trip through Perry County. The first stop on the tour was the Hagans house, where Hagan (alongside his wife and their dog Gator) greeted guests wearing overalls and holding a pitchfork.He was always quick with a joke or a story? He was an ace at cards (though a dubious scorekeeper) and had a very precise recipe for concocting a Jim Beam Manhattan. He didnt like to sit still; he was always building things and making plans, whether it was for an elaborate miniature farm for his grandson or a new road for the highway department. He is survived by his wife, Blanche Hagan; sons, Timothy (Sharon) Hagan, John (Deborah) Hagan and Dennis Hagan; grandchildren, Patrick (Beth) Hagan, Molly, Chris and Tom.Family will receive friends at the Hoskinson Funeral Home in Thornville on Sunday, Sept. 27 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Donations to the American Legion, Somerset Post can be made in lieu of flowers.