Lion Legacy 2019

Carolyn Haag is a 1935 graduate of Salem High School and will turn 100 in June. She attended Hanover College, where she found both academic and athletic success in a variety of sports, receiving 13 varsity ribbons in eight sports — speedball, soccer, hockey, basketball, volleyball, tap dancing, baseball and track. She was awarded the Best All-Around Senior Woman trophy, given to the senior woman with the highest class ranking, sportsmanship, athletic ability, campus activities and general campus esteem. She was inducted into the Hanover College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

She started teaching in 1940, spending time in two schools before teaching at Salem. Her husband opened a business in Jasper, which took her away from her hometown for a time, but she returned to teaching at Salem Middle School as a girls’ PE and health teacher and cheerleading coach in 1958. She retired in 1987.

Her parents graduated from Salem High School more than 100 years ago and her sons are also SHS graduates. One of her sons, Dr. Brian Haag (Class of 1970), a leader in kidney transplantation is a Lion Legacy member.

Haag said when she was a student, no one ever thought anyone would walk on the moon.

“I said, ‘No one ever will,’ but they did,” she said. “In July, we’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of that event … Computers, cell phones, microwaves, commercial airplanes, video, Facebook, Facetime, McDonald’s. I must mention what we had that you don’t have — gasoline was 19 cents a gallon, eggs were 21 cents a dozen, Rice Krispies cereal were 15 cents a box and bread was eight cents a loaf. You may not need gas one day. You may have an electric car or a self-driving car. Life is changing and it will keep changing. There will be opportunities for you. What seems impossible for you may be possible for you. Enjoy. Enjoy the future of which you are an important part.”

Carolyn Haag is one of five new inductees to the Salem Community Schools Lion Legacy. Others this year include Deanna Marcum, Frank Newkirk II, Grant Manship and Sarah Snider. You can read more about these SHS alumni in today's Salem Democrat!