Lake Placid – At the Mirror Lake Inn, over the course of its 100 years of existence, stories of romance like those of Julie and Tom Hagen probably occur more often than we realize.
Across the years, these accounts have sounded like Hallmark movies long before Hallmark came into existence. Except, in this case, the union of the Hagens, on our property, was not fiction.
The inn posted recently on its Facebook page – on the occasion of the first snowfall of the season in the Adirondacks – and Julie was compelled to recollect. She met her husband, Tom, here at the Mirror Lake Inn beach in 1965.
“He was staying at the skaters’ camp at the hotel and I was a guest with use of the beach,” she said. “We married two years later. We would have celebrated our 57th this past August, but I lost him in April. Our hearts will forever reside at the Mirror Lake Inn beach.”
Tom would have been 83 on October 17.
Touched by their long-ago meeting at this Upstate New York resort, we replied to Julie acknowledging her comments and sending our sympathies. Thus began an exchange that led to this blog post, which she approved. The love story, however, extended beyond two people and the chance meeting. She is from Albany, N.Y.; he hailed from Minnesota. The affection also included the iconic property that served as the backdrop for the budding relationship.
“My family had gone to Mirror Lake Inn for many years,” continued Julie. “My dad, an avid fisherman, decided to purchase a summer home there and found one up on Stevens Road, behind the Inn. It and the identical home beside it, had once belonged to the original owners of the Inn, the Wikoffs. When they heard of the purchase, they offered us permanent use of the beach, which I used daily.”
In those days and earlier, the Mirror Lake Inn was well attached to the local figure skating community. These camps occurred here regularly in the summer. Its reputation brought Tom Hagen to the property.
“Tom was there with his sister to train at the Olympic Arena with legendary skating coach Ron Luddington,” stated Mrs. Hagen. “His Mom even was den mother to the ice-skating camp that the Inn ran in a building out back.”
But as the saying goes, man does not live by skating alone, hence, those “chance” meetings at the beach. However, Julie also had her plan. A year later – 1966 – she worked at the hotel so as to stay the entire summer and be here when Tom returned for another season of lessons and training.
“We developed a long-distance romance and married in August 1967,” she reflected. “We always said it was ‘written on the wind’.
“I still in my heart, can see us sitting on the beach in Adirondack chairs, holding hands, watching a sunset. It’s where our spirits will always reside.”
Since Tom’s passing, Julie has moved to Arizona to be closer to family. We will take the liberty of saying that a small piece of her with Tom remains on the Four Diamond property that overlooks Mirror Lake.
“I love Lake Placid and Mirror Lake Inn more than any place on earth,” Julie told us. “We returned several times, staying at the Inn, even after my mom sold our home after my dad’s passing.
“I sometimes wonder how many successful romances started at your Inn.”
Now Julie, as a result of your story, and over the course of our 100 years, we wonder the same.
(All images provided by Julie Hagen)