Ethel Hagen

Ethel Marie Palmer Hagen, 91, of Orient, passed away Sunday, June 20, 2021 at Primrose Cottages, Aberdeen.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m., Saturday, June 26, 2021 at the previous Orient Lutheran Church Lot, Orient, SD with Mike Kampa presiding. Burial will follow in Prairie View Cemetery, Orient. Visitation will be 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., Friday, June 25, 2021 at Luce Funeral Home, Faulkton.

Ethel Marie Klapperich was born August 31, 1929 in Raymond, SD, the second of ten children born to Emil and Mary (Halfman) Klapperich. In her first 10 years of life Ethel moved around the Turton/Conde/Brentford areas 10 times. She worked hard growing up by selling papers and babysitting, giving her wages to her parents. Ethel attended St. Lawrence High School, graduating in 1947.

Following high school, Ethel met Paul Palmer. They were married in 1951 and started farming. They started a milking business on a farm in north Hyde County where she could enjoy one of her many hobbies, milking cows. Paul passed away in 1963. Later in 1965, Ethel was united in marriage to Oscar Hagen. They moved to Orient and shortly after they ventured to the Anne Hagen farm one mile south of Orient where she lived with her children the rest of her life. Oscar passed away in 1985.

Throughout Ethel’s life she enjoyed crafting, gardening, baking, (especially known for her rhubarb torte and her pies) picking asparagus, and sewing. Sewing was one of the hardest things for her to give up as her eyesight gave out on her. She especially loved sewing her pillowcase dolls and she made over 300 dolls. She loved to dance and would come home from the fabric store, sew herself a dress, and then wear it to a dance later that night.

Ethel cooked at the Orient Legion Café and the Faulkton Hospital and worked at the Dakotah Quilt factory in Redfield. Ethel was active in the Do-Nothing-Club, Prairie View Cemetery Board, American Legion Auxiliary, and was one of the first members of the Jolly Wrens Extension Club. She even wrote a wonderful history of her life for her family to cherish. Above all, Ethel’s faith was always a mainstay of her life. She gave unselfishly to Orient Lutheran Church, teaching Sunday school for many years and being actively involved in the ladies’ aid.

Ethel’s life will forever be cherished by her children: Randy (Jeannette) Palmer, Hawks, MI, Julie Baszler, DeSmet, Cheryl Walsh, Phoenix, AZ, Richard (Mary) Palmer, Willmar, MN, John Hagen, Orient, and Mary (Lannie) Mielke, Mellette; grandchildren: Jason (Angie) Baszler, St. Cloud, MN, Jared (Ashley) Baszler, Brookings, Caterina (Doug) Taylor, Oceanside, CA, Sean Walsh, Phoenix, AZ, Laine Mielke (Cole Dejong), Cavour, and Jackson and Jayden Mielke, Mellette; great grandchildren: Ella, Brooks, and Harris Baszler, St. Cloud, MN; Jack and Logan Baszler, Brookings, and Evan Taylor, Oceanside, CA; siblings: Robert (Arlene) Klapperich, Lincoln, NE, Phyllis Merrill, Kearney, NE, Rosie Foerster, Lincoln, NE, and Mike Klapperich, Merritt Island, FL; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; both husbands, Paul Palmer and Oscar Hagen; sisters: Delores Hamilton, Marjorie Moon, and Joanne McGirr; brothers: Donnie Klapperich and Philip Klapperich; sister-in-laws: Donna Klapperich and Gelia Klapperich; brother-in-laws: Claude Hamilton, Vince Moon, Art Foerster, and Daryl McGirr; and son-in-law: Jim Baszler.

Luce Funeral Home of Faulkton has been entrusted with Ethel’s arrangements.