Mable Franklin Hager

She was born August 23, 1923, the daughter of Ethel Hopkins Franklin and Robert Wade Franklin, and grew up in a one-room log cabin during the Depression. She told stories of keeping the milk in the spring in back of the cabin and how she had to shoot the snakes in the spring each morning before reaching in to get the milk. She was a graduate of Mangum High School in Bahama and a two-year business school in Durham.

As a young woman, she helped her parents run a small country store near Quail Roost Dairy, where she met her husband, George, who often stopped by for a candy bar. Married in 1949, they set out to make a life together. Always of an independent spirit, she was the only woman, in a class of approximately 30, to complete a 1958 D.H.I.A. milk testers training course sponsored by the North Carolina State College. She loved business, and during her lifetime sold Singer sewing machines, pursued a career in real estate, co-ran a dairy farm in Four Oaks with her husband, and ran a small produce business with her son, Dale, in New Bern.

Her strongest loyalties were to her family and her faith. She was a devout Primitive Baptist, and remained a member of Flat River Primitive Baptist Church near Roxboro.

She is survived by her son, Dale Hager of New Bern, and by her daughter Shirley Hager and her husband David Fuller of Chesterville, Maine. She was predeceased by her loving husband of 55 years, George Eli Hager, Jr., her parents, and her brother, Odell Franklin.

Her family would like to extend their heartfelt thanks to the staff of Two Rivers Health Care Center—Neuse Campus and to United Hospice for their care and support of Mable and our family during her long-term stay.

There will be a funeral service at the Cotten Funeral Home Chapel in New Bern, on Saturday, August 25, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. The family will receive friends 1 hour prior to service. Following the service there will also be a graveside gathering at 4:00 p.m. for friends and family at the Mt. Lebanon Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery located on Guess Road in Durham, North Carolina.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.cottenfuneralhome.com.

Arrangements by Cotten Funeral Home & Crematory.