Reed Mitchell Hagee, Active Evanston Volunteer and Real Estate Developer, Dies

The following obituary is from Donnellan Family Funeral Services:

Reed Mitchell Hagee died March 12th at 76. Beloved mother, grandmother, community advocate and leader, dear and generous friend to many. Reed's community involvement began when she was in her early 30's as VP of Volunteers and Finance and later President of The Child Care Center of Evanston where she founded the Auxiliary and was later named an honorary member. She was a Trustee of Covenant Methodist Church as well as a Sunday school teacher and an Elder at Northminster Presbyterian Church; a Girl Scout Leader and District Council Representative. She was on The Blue Ribbon Commission on Finance of The Evanston Township High School; a member of the Evanston Hospital Auxiliary Board, she co-chaired the 10th Anniversary Ball. She was on the Board of The Mental Health Society (an organization founded by her mother Helen King Mitchell) and Director of Development; a Network of Caring Volunteer and PTA Mental Health Chair on Boards for Willard and Haven Schools. She was founding member of the Business Advisory Committee and its first chair; chair of the task force on growth of the Mental Health Association to become "The Mental Health Association of The North Shore" and honored as Volunteer of the year 2004. She was an "Ambassador" of Youth Organization Umbrella after serving seven years on the board. With her husband, Joe, they received the Laura and Todd Wheeler Award for Service. She was on The Evanston Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and a board member of the Private Industry Council of Northern Illinois. A member of the Board of The Garden Club of Evanston, Reed served as Finance Chair, Newsletter Chair for two terms, Long Range Planning Chair, Membership Chair, received the 2003 Board of The Garden Club of America Achievement Award and served as the Garden Club of Evanston President in 2005 and 2006. She and Joe served as Evanston's United Way Advanced Gift Chairs in 2003 & 2004 and they were honored as Volunteers of the Year in 2003. She served as a Trustee and member of the Advisory Board of The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, a museum founded with the collection of her father, John Mitchell. Reed was an active committee member of the Capital Campaign for the Evanston History Center. This was her last philanthropic endeavor. 

Born 12/1/37 in Evanston, she attended Lincolnwood, Haven and Evanston Township High School. She married her Indiana University college sweetheart, Joe, in 1958. The courtship started as "love at first sight". They moved to Fort Knox, KY where Joe was an officer in the U.S. Army, after Reed received her BS in Music and Joe his MBA. Their first child Scott Mitchell was born in 1961; their daughter Joanne Elizabeth was born in 1963. After Joe worked for Cummins Engines for several years in New York City, they came to settle in her home town of Evanston and Joe started to work for her father, John Mitchell at Mitchell Brothers Realty (founded in 1903 by her grandfather and great uncle). Reed worked side by side with her husband once the children were in middle school and they had much success expanding the business further in the area of development across the country and locally. One well known development was "The Laundry Mall" in Winnetka. They had four real estate offices in the communities of Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka and Northbrook and were in the top one percent of real estate producers in Chicagoland. Upon retiring they enjoyed the company of family and friends in the North Woods of Wisconsin. 

Reed is survived by her dear husband of 55 years, Joseph Gordon Hagee, son Scott Mitchell Hagee (Mitch), and daughter Joanne Hagee Matik and five grandchildren Marissa Anne and Joseph Anthony Hagee and Christopher James, Charlotte Victoria and Theodore Thomas Matik, her sister Jane Mitchell and 2 nieces and 1 nephew. She is preceded in death by her brother Jonathon Mitchell. 

A Memorial Service will be held Friday, March 28th at 3:00 pm at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2515 Central Park Avenue, Evanston. 

In lieu of flowers, donations can made to Autism Society of America www.autism-society.org, Autism Speaks www.autismspeaks.org and The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, 3001 Central St., Evanston, IL 60201.