Frank D. Hagel, 90

Kalispell artist Frank D. Hagel, 90, died Oct. 7, 2024, at Logan Health.

He was born at the family home in Kalispell on Dec. 20, 1933, as the third and youngest child of Fred A. and Winona A. (Popham) Hagel. He attended Kalispell schools. As a 15-year-old, he worked as a construction helper to German stonemasons building retaining walls along the Going-to-the-Sun Highway in Glacier National Park. After graduating from Flathead High School in 1951, Frank joined the United States Navy and served a four-year tour of duty, which included stints in Hawaii and Japan. Following his honorable discharge, he was accepted to the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He completed the four-year program in three years by attending summer sessions.

After graduating from Art Center, Frank made a career as a commercial illustrator in Detroit, Michigan, beginning in 1959, where he won two Silver Art Director Medals for Excellence for his work. However, he wanted his sons to be raised in Montana. He was able to permanently relocate with his family back to Kalispell in 1971, where he built two homes on the banks of the Flathead River and spent the rest of his life working as a fine artist, painting and sculpting wildlife and western historical subjects. In 1972, as part of the centennial of Yellowstone National Park, he was commissioned by the National Park Service to sculpt 37 medallions that were cast in bronze and silver, commemorating all of the national parks. For the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, he completed a corporate commission of a dozen mural-sized paintings, three of which appeared in Smithsonian magazine’s coverage of the expedition. Throughout his career, his work was featured in numerous publications, including Southwest Art and a recent issue of Flathead Living. He was represented by art galleries in Montana, Arizona and Florida, and he was a regular exhibitor at the prestigious C.M. Russell Art Show in Great Falls. His art has been displayed locally in several Kalispell banks over the years, and some of his paintings of the Lewis and Clark expedition are currently on view at Sykes Market in Kalispell. He was always known as a generous mentor to other artists.

Frank loved his family and was fortunate to have the love of three wives during the course of his life. He married Ethel Irene Houston of Kalispell, the mother of his three sons, in 1954. Ethel died in 1967 in Detroit. In 1969, he married Rita Siry, who died in Kalispell in 2000. Frank was married to Sara Porter Walsh in 2003 on the Big Island of Hawaii, and they returned to the Big Island every winter. He spent many days in the wilds of Montana, and he and Sara split their time in recent years between Kalispell and Sara’s adopted hometown of Augusta, which Frank came to love as well. Frank and Sara also traveled to other parts of the world during the past 20 years, including trips to Europe, Mexico and New Zealand.

He was an avid hunter and fisherman, and his adventures included horse-packing trips in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, bird hunting trips near Augusta and Conrad, and fishing throughout Montana, Idaho and Alaska. He also loved golf and his many friends at Buffalo Hill Golf Club.

Besides his late wives Ethel and Rita, Frank was preceded in death by his parents, his older brother Fred C. Hagel, and his older sister Audrey Gilmore.  

He is survived by his wife Sara; his three sons and their wives, Scott and Jean Hagel, Michael and Sharon Hagel, and Jack and Sharon Hagel; grandchildren, Megan Christianson, Charles and Erin Hagel, Amber (Hagel) Waniata of Missoula, and Austin and Connor Hagel; and numerous nieces, nephews, in-laws and great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life is being planned at a later date.