William Kelly Hagan II

There will be a service at Cook-Walden Davis funeral home in Georgetown, Texas on Wednesday,

June 16, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Burial will be followed in Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego, California.

Bill was born in Paris, Kentucky on October 16, 1924. He was the son of Ruby Elder Hagan and

Flournoy Garth Hagan. He has lived in Round Rock, Texas since 2017 with his youngest

daughter Nancy Wickett, her husband, Don and their dog, Star. He’s remembered by his friends

and family as an amazing storyteller.

On June 24th, 1950 he married his red-headed girlfriend Lola Juanita Stokes in Lexington, Kentucky.

They were married for 64 years and they had four children: William (Bill), Margaret (Peggy),

Mary, and Nancy. Bill and Lola traveled all over the United States and Europe together, but

visiting their children and grandchildren gave them the most joy.

Bill was always a technologist at heart and from a young age was fascinated with crystal radios.

He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in Physics. He

served in the United States Army Signal Corp during WWII as an instructor where he trained

soldiers at Camp Crowder in Missouri.

Bill’s career was a combination of his interest in electronics, problem solving, and talent for

creative solutions. Bill’s professional career started by building on his Signal Corps experience

when he worked at the Lexington Army Depot in Avon, Kentucky. He then took a job with the

Capehart Farnsworth Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he worked with Philo Farnsworth, the

inventor of television. He worked on radar and other electronics systems, many for defense

applications. His next move was to the Magnavox company where he continued to work on

electronic systems for defense applications.

Later, his interests turned to biomedical applications and he joined Baxter Travenol in the

Chicago area to work on electro-cardiography, monitoring devices, and even worked for a while

on artificial hearts. After Baxter, Bill worked in several small biomedical device companies, one

of which he helped found in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed devices to allow electro-cardiograms to

be transmitted over telephone so they could be analyzed remotely and developed an early form

of artificial intelligence to automatically read electro-cardiograms. He then focused on the

design and production of heart defibrillators, for which he earned three patents.

He was a certified instrument pilot and flew his own planes for many years. His voracity for the

printed word was unparalleled and even at the time of his passing he still had 2,000 books in his

home library and he read them all. Bill was also a woodworker and built furniture and gifts for

friends and family, all of which he used his computer to plan and model before building. This

hobby was a lifelong pursuit and he worked in his woodshop even up to the week of his passing.

Bill was extremely proud of his grown children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

He is survived by his children: William K. Hagan III (Kathy) of Encinitas, CA, Margaret Louise

Hagan of Slidell, LA, Mary Elder Miller (Jim) of Willow, AK, and Nancy Garth Hagan Wickett

(Don) of Round Rock, TX.

He is also survived by his grandchildren: James Wickett (Laura) of Pflugerville, TX, Daniel

Hagan (Liz) of Columbus, OH, William K. Hagan IV of Fort Collins, CO, Joanne Mabry of

Houston, TX and Katherine Klienpeter of Slidell, LA. He is also survived by his five

great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Lola, and his grandsons Todd Wickett and Philip Wickett.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Philip Hagan Wickett Memorial Scholarship

which Bill supported for many years.

https://www.purecharity.com/fundraisers/philip-hagan-wickett-memorial-scholarsh2