Joseph Henry Hager

Joseph H. Hager, 94, died in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Thursday, July 5, 2007. Our beloved family patriarch is survived by his brother, Victor Hager of Gallipolis, Ohio; two children, Rosaleen Hager of Wilkesboro and Joe Gill (Carolyn) Hager of Buckhannon, West Virginia; ten grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren. He is predeceased by his wife, Bulah Rose Crandall, eight brothers, seven sisters, two children: Stephen Hager and Judith Fotos, and a grandson, Robert F. Priddy.  Joe was born February 15, 1913 at Spears, Ninemile Creek, Lincoln County, West Virginia, to the late Gilbert H. Hager and Sarah Elizabeth Smith Hager. He was raised in Lincoln County, Huntington, and Gallipolis before enlisting in the Navy in 1931, where he proudly served his country in the Pacific on the U.S.S. Vestal. In 1935 he married Bulah Rose Crandall, daughter of the late Charles Wesley and Rosa Plants Crandall of Huntington. During World War II he worked on defense projects in Newark, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. After the war he lived in Huntington for over 40 years, first operating Hager's Food Market on Adams Avenue and then, in 1951, he founded the Little Swiss Drilling Company. In 1980 he moved to Buckhannon where he ran Little Swiss Drilling and Seneca Upshur Petroleum with his sons until his retirement in 1991. He drilled hundreds of natural gas wells in West Virginia and is credited with discovering a new gas field which he named the Alexander Sand.  Joe was a member of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia and of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Northern West Virginia Section. He was also active with the Full Gospel Business Men's Association. In Huntington he was a member of Highlawn Methodist Church and the Central Methodist Church.  All who knew him admired him for his integrity, honesty and strong work ethic.  Visitation will be at Beard Mortuary in Huntington, on Saturday, July 14 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The funeral service will be held Sunday, 2:00 p.m., at Beard Mortuary in Huntington. Interment will be at Woodmere Memorial Park. All friends and family are invited to attend.

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