Thoughts on my life

I read my way through life, loving books nearly to the point of obsession. When I got my first "real" job, I thought about purchasing insurance for my books! Years later, I believe my books wore out from taking them off the shelves so many times, planning to take them to the used book sales. Those books never got there. It was always, "No, I can't part with that one."

Loving books translated to loving words. I realized that when claiming the title of Jefferson County Spelling Champion of 1938. My next championship was 73 years later; the feeling of victory was just as heady!

I loved my husband Bob who I married in 1950. We met on a blind date the night he had been scheduled to marry another woman. The wedding had been called off two weeks before. Bob's mother took to her bed for days to think she was losing a socialite daughter from Chicago! In spite of this challenging start, the marriage endured happily as good marriages do until Bob's sudden death thirty-five years later.

Three biblically-named sons were my pride. Paul, first-born, was named for a vaudevillian uncle on his father's side. Paul married Cindy Schlosser. Matthew, our second son, was named for his paternal grandfather, named Matthias...too heavy a name for a wee babe to bear, so the babe became Matthew Charles. Matt married Stacy (Williams). Then came Mark, named Mark because the name fit with the other two. Mark married Jaci (Van Able). Two fascinating grandchildren, twins, were added to the family tree by Matthew and Stacy. Sierra and Jaron, a pair of super swimmers, gave me great excuses to take off for Texas and enjoy the role of grandma with all the loving attention to the next Wagner generation. I happily welcomed Andrew Henry into the family as Sierra's husband.

I loved travel, and set foot in all but three of fifty states. I explored at least eighteen countries, including France, Hungary, Wales, New Zealand, and Nicaragua. My "island in the mind" was the perfect Pacific beach at Astoria, Oregon, where all the stress of life could be abandoned.

I could not resist the call to action from various organizations and boards. I enjoyed being a secretary because "a secretary, by careful listening and intervening, can actually control the process of the meeting." I volunteered with many groups including the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua, Friends of the L.D. Fargo Public Library in Lake Mills, WI, and was Boss and multi-year board member for Northland Recreation Laboratory.

I flirted with the Church for many years. At the age of eight, I started questioning the Church and the God that supposedly was the cause of it. I was baptized and confirmed in the Moravian Church in Lake Mills. I became a member of the United Presbyterian Church while in college, was married, and continued in that church until my husband's death. Then came a hiatus from churching, followed by experimental church forays until settling with Jubilee!, an independent faith community in Asheville, NC. After returning to Lake Mills, I spent 8 years with United Methodists before parting ways with the institutional church. I continued an interest in different forms of religion.

I considered myself a liberal thinker, occasionally entering the political fray to support candidates of character and conviction. In later years, I became an observer of the tumultuous political scene.

For the most part, I maintained a light heart and had a relatively happy, lengthy life, giving credit to younger friends and shelves of interesting books. I had many friends and enjoyed spending time with anyone who was willing to spend time with me.

I was, on the whole, glad I came.

(These are mostly Eunice's own words, with some editing by her family)

A celebration of Eunice's life will be held on Saturday, May 25th, 2024, at 11:00 AM at Trinity Pines, 326 W. Pine St., Lake Mills, WI, to be followed by fellowship and light refreshments.

If you wish to send a note or card, please send to: Eunice Wagner family c/o Paul Wagner, 120 S. Michigan St., Eau Claire, WI 54703. If you wish to make a donation, please make it to the L.D. Fargo Public Library, 120 E. Madison St., Lake Mills, WI 53551 or another charity of your choice.