Harlyn Charles Hagmann

Harlyn (Harly) Hagmann was born February 19, 1934 in Redfield, South Dakota, the youngest of five children (siblings Leo, Morell, Richard Orville, and Phyllis). At age 2, his family moved to southern Minnesota (Freeborn County), and moved around the area every few years from farm to farm, working as sharecroppers. Eventually (when Harly was set to begin 6th grade) his father, tired of raising crops for only half the benefit, took a more traditional job, and moved the family to the edge of Albert Lea. Harly finished Jr. and Sr. High School in Albert Lea, excelling in extra-curriculars. He wrestled, ran track, and played football (and lettered in all three sports), in addition to participating in multiple choirs/singing groups, and having the lead role in three theater productions.
Harly was a leader from a young age. He led in traditional ways (like sports, music, and theater) and in more unconventional ways. When he was in Sr. High School Harly, along with two other athletes in school, sponsored a pre-prom dance lesson session to encourage boys (mostly "farm boys") to attend and dance at the school prom. It worked; the dance lesson was well-attended and he later said, "The turnout was huge and the prom was the best ever."
During these years he also participated in Boy Scouts of America; he earned the second highest rank - Life - and almost earned the highest rank - Eagle - by 'rescuing' a drowning swim instructor until, after several minutes of trying, his 'drowning victim' decided Harly was the one who needed saving (both survived, as did his rank of Life). Unsurprisingly, Harly was also deeply engaged with church activities during this time. He participated in Youth Fellowship (YF), which was instrumental in developing his faith. He attended summer youth camp and was elected to be President of the Southeast District Methodist YF, where he traveled around Methodist Churches in the area and eventually (at age 17) gave his first Sunday sermon, filling in for a vacationing pastor in the town of Wells, MN.
From a young age, Harly was devoted to both financially supporting his family and affording a college education for himself. He often spent his days attending class, participating in extracurriculars in the evening, and working the night shift as well as weekends and summers. Some of his employment history involved circus set-up (roustabout), milk and ice cream delivery, dairy operation and bagging milk, road construction, residential home construction, taxi driving, stove manufacturing, postal work, and various jobs in a cannery.
Harly graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1952 and, thanks to his hard work, was able to afford college at Hamline University in St. Paul. On his orientation visit to Hamline, he crossed paths with a friend from Albert Lea and one of her roommates, Cleone Hillesland. Harly and Cleone would eventually marry on June 11, 1955. The two first partnered serving Sunday supper at Hamline, and went on to share many more meals, events, adventures, children, and grandchildren since. She also partnered with him in a life of work of service in church ministry until his retirement as a United Methodist minister in 1996. He would later say that Cleone "remained the brightest of lights in my life."
In 1956, Harly graduated with honors from Hamline University as a first generation college graduate. He then earned his M.Div. (Masters of Divinity) from Garrett School of Theology in Evanston, IL. and was fully ordained in 1960. He completed further graduate courses in Socio/Economics and Non-Profit Business Administration.
After serving a first ministerial appointment at the Barrington Methodist Church in Illinois, he returned to Minnesota in 1961 and served many churches until retirement in 1996. This included serving as Associate Minister in Rochester, chartering Methodist churches in both White Bear Lake and Shoreview, and serving as Senior Minister in Winona. In 1975 he was appointed District Superintendent of the Southeast District of Minnesota. After his 6-year term, he served as Senior Minister in Fridley, then as Senior Associate & Business Administrator of Hennepin Ave. United Methodist in Minneapolis. He concluded his service at Minnetonka United Methodist Church (MUMC), a young church at the time, but one that grew significantly under Harly's leadership. After his retirement in 1996, MUMC invited Harly and Cleone to return to attending the Church and it became a permanent faith home for the pair.
Throughout his life and career, Harly's ministry focused on the wellbeing of individuals, the community, and the world. He saw this as the purpose of what God had done through Jesus, and the purpose of what God was continuing to do through the community of faith. Through his ministry, he participated in and led efforts to support those in need, including: establishing an emergency shelter for local homeless teens ("House By The Side of The Road"); providing schools and education to children in Sierra Leone and Liberia ("Operation Classroom"); supporting (and helping to build) a community center and infirmary facility in Panama; providing a safe haven for battered women and families in a Native American community in Montana; supporting church and community facilities in Barbados; mentoring youth mission teams in rural northwest Minnesota; and leading disaster response efforts in floods of the Rochester area and the Red River Valley of northern Minnesota. Harly was a progressive advocate and leader for social justice causes in the community and in the world. He was a proud member of the United World Federalists, and advocated for women's inclusion in the Methodist Church.
Despite the many opportunities and challenges of ministry, Harly's greatest passion was partnership with his wife, Cleone, and their family. His children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren were his pride and joy; he rarely (if ever) missed a sports game, swim meet, musical performance, or celebration of their accomplishments. He was always kind, present, helpful, quick with a joke, and handy (his grandchildren used to say, "Grandma knows everything but Grandpa can fix everything.").
Harly loved time together as a family, especially vacation time. Travel camping was an especially important part of his life - it led to him visiting all US states, and gave his family a close up look at many European countries. Those, along with family trips to the Middle East and the Caribbean, were important in teaching his children to be "citizens of the world."
He also profoundly enjoyed choral music (participating in Hamline's a cappella choir), golf, fishing, river boating, and travel of all sorts (including, for many years, owning a condo in Vero Beach, FL). His mission interests, family trips, tours and other work-related travels took him to nearly 50 countries in his 90 years.
He loved the church and his church work, but he was never shy in saying that his greatest love, source of pride, and inspiration was his wife Cleone and his amazing family.