March 3, 1940 – December 16, 2021
Garren Earle Hagemeier was born to Wayne and Eva Hagemeier in the spring of 1940 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As a young man, he loved to hunt and explore the wild lands of New Mexico and Idaho. At church camp, he was called to the ministry and gave his life to Christ. After an 8year enlistment in the Air Force as a cryptographer, he pursed his childhood calling and attended seminary at Northwest Nazarene Theological Seminary in Idaho. He had a family and two full time jobs while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average in college. He was ordained as minister soon after graduating seminary.
He was a man of many talents and had a light-heartedness for a good joke. He later pursued business interests in Austin, Texas where he met and married his second wife. When they moved to Little Rock, Arkansas a preacher at a local church called Garren out to go preach. He started in 1980 as a circuit rider for the United Methodist Church with four churches. As his congregations grew, he passed the churches over to other pastors and by 1993 Southbend United Methodist Church remained as his sole church for ministry. In 2002, he finally gave up his business pursuits to serve the church full time. He loved his church and had a heart for serving, feeding, and taking anyone in who needed help. Under his leadership, the church’s youth group grew significantly, and he was responsible for restoring the church after a fire.
He is preceded in death by his mother Eva Hagemeier, father Wayne Hagemeier, sister Evadine Tullock, brother Warren Hagemeier, and daughter Carrie Thomas and her mother Margaret Schultz. He is survived by wife Connie Hagemeier, daughters Cindy White, Katie Justice and their spouses, son Justin Hagemeier, granddaughters Stephanie Mowery, Kristen White and Avri Justice, grandsons Keller Thomas and Brady Justice as well as many parishioners and friends.
A Memorial Service will be held for him at Southbend United Methodist Church on Sunday December 19, 2021 at 1:00 pm. Location: 3285 AR-294 Jacksonville, AR 72076.
In Lieu of flowers, the family wishes for offerings in honor of Garren Hagemeier to his church home of Southbend UMC (P.O. Box 307 Jacksonville, AR 72078).