It was not Advent, said members of the congregation, until they heard Sam sing.
Hagan died suddenly Sunday of a heart attack at his East Lake home. He was 81.
Despite his age, and seemingly successful treatment for prostate cancer in 2019, he was still in good physical condition and had been working outdoors that afternoon.
His wife of 50 years, Martha “Marti” Hagan, returned from a visit with friends to find the unconscious Sam in the back yard, a long-handled pick still in his hands.
A memorial service will be held in the fall.
Hagan grew up in modest circumstances. His family of five shared a one-bedroom duplex in Vine City and his mother did domestic work. But he excelled in school and won a scholarship to Clark College. At Clark he did well enough to win a grant to study biochemistry at Emory University. He also earned a master’s degree at Georgia State University.
The young man was hired to teach biology at Westminster Schools and later at Atlanta Metropolitan State College. He enjoyed a long teaching career, but his heart was in music. Even as a graduate student at Emory, he sang with the Southern Regional Opera Company and then with the Atlanta Opera.
In 1973 Sam met Marti in upstate New York, where she managed a regional opera company, the Lake George Opera. Sam was booked for summer performances of “Tosca” and “Rigoletto” at Lake George. When she heard his voice, Marti said, she was “smitten.”
Some were opposed the interracial romance, but not Marti’s parents. “My mother was in love (with Sam)” she said. Marti and Sam married five months later.
When the Hagans bought a house in the East Lake community in 1974, the area was riddled with crime and the housing inventory was run down. After closing on a 1939 fixer-upper for $25,000, Sam spent the next 50 years transforming the structure, tripling the size, adding bedrooms, a kitchen and a three-story wing. He worked alone, using his own two hands.
Today, following the 1990s renovation of the…
Read the full article here
