Beloved wife, mother, grandmother

Kristen Jane Hagstrom, beloved wife of Stephen W. Hagstrom, mother of Erik Rand Hagstrom and Britta H. Numair (George), and grandmother of Olivia Numair, died March 5. She was 68.

Born February 16, 1952 in Kingston, Pennsylvania, Kristen was the daughter of John A. Gersbach and Carol M. Gersbach of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and sister of Carl R. Gersbach of Devon, Pennsylvania.

The Gersbachs moved to the Philadelphia area in the summer of 1952, settling in Springfield, in Delaware County. In 1959, they moved again to the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

There she attended Swarthmore Elementary School and in 1970 graduated from Swarthmore High School. At Swarthmore High she was active in both sports and academic pursuits and developed many close friends.

She had a profound love of horses and worked in local stables during school. She loved riding through the countryside near Radnor Hunt Club. She also developed her love for the New Jersey shore, which led to many summers spent in Cape May, New Jersey during her college years.

Upon graduation from high school, she chose to follow in her father’s footsteps and enrolled at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

After experiencing her first upstate New York winter, she made the decision to transfer to the University of Delaware, from where she graduated in 1974 with a degree in art history.

On May 13, 1978 she married Stephen W. Hagstrom in Rye, New York. They lived in Rye for five years and then in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Richardson, Texas; and Claremont. In 2015, they moved to Goleta, near Santa Barbara.

She was a determined and conscientious stay-at-home mom for Erik and Britta. As they grew older, her career expanded from procuring art for several galleries to assisting the director of Pergamon Press, and the city manager and staff in Claremont.

She died from ongoing health complications during her treatment at the Ridley Tree Oncology Center.

She leaves behind her beloved husband of more than 40 years, Stephen; son Erik; daughter Britta; granddaughter Olivia; and her beloved pets Zoie, Punk and Zini.

There will be two memorial services celebrating her life. The first will be in Santa Barbara on June 27, where her ashes will be scattered in the Santa Barbara Channel. The second will take place in October at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, with a celebration to follow.