General Notes:

Daily Tribune (10 July 2005)

Marie "Mary" Wagner

Marie "Mary" Wagner, 86, of Pleasant Ridge since 1955, formerly of Port Huron, died Thursday, July 7, 2005, at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. She was born Oct. 14, 1918, in Port Huron.

Before she was married, Mrs. Wagner worked for Autolite Corp., Port Huron. She was active in her church and its women's and quilting circles. She enjoyed crocheting, gardening, baking and travel, especially to southern states. She spent winters in Florida.

Surviving are her husband of 56 years, Arthur; children Linda R. (Raymond) Bates, Joan M. (Daniel) Vidolich, and Lisa A. (Dan) Bale; grandchildren, Erin, Jillian, Christopher, Matthew and Stephanie, and sisters, Caroline Nagy and Ruth Reilly.

Visitation, 2-8 p.m. today at A. J. Jesmond & Sons Funeral Home, 32515 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, additional visitation, 10 a.m. service at Epiphany Lutheran Church, 933 W. Seven Mile, Detroit, interment, Oakview Cemetery, Royal Oak,; memorials, Lutheran Special Education Ministries, 6861 E. Nevada, Detroit, MI 48234, on-line information, www.desmondfuneralhome.com.


Detroit Free Press (July 11, 2005)

Marie Wagner: Quilter loved to travel the country

BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Marie Wagner never made it past the eighth grade. Yet she traveled to all 50 states before her life was over.

She was particularly fond of Alaska, her eldest daughter Linda Bates recalled. But like many other midwesterners, she spent most of her time outside of Michigan in Florida, wintering there the last 20 years.

Mrs. Wagner's life took her a long way from the tough times of her youth, when she left school after her junior high to work odds-and-ends jobs, before settling in a factory on the line.

She was a tough, strong woman never afraid to express an opinion. But her friends and famly remember her best for her caring nature and her quilts, which she made with a group of church friends and shipped around the world for charity.

Mrs. Wagner died Thursday of heart failure at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. She was 86.

"She was always looking out for the other person," Bates said.

Mrs. Wagner was born and raised in Port Huron. After leaving school, early, she eventually took a job with Autolite Corp., and worked on the line.

She met Arthur Wagner on a blind date and married him in 1948, even though Arthur Wagner wasn't her "actual" blind date. According to family legend, Marie Langolf and Arthur Wagner were set up with other partners that night, but when the night was finished, they dropped their original partners and hooked up.

After they married, the Wagners moved to Detroit where Arthur worked for Ford Motor Co. In 1955, the family moved to Pleasant Ridge, where Mrs. Wagner stayed until her death.

There, she raised three daughters, sewed clothes, quilted, attended church, crocheted, baked (chocolate chip cookies in the later years), traveled, and gardened, both flowers and vegetables.

The family pulled a camper across America in the summers. In the winters, during the retirement years, they headed south to Florida.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Wagner is survived by Arthur, her husband, of 56 years, daughters Joan Vidolich and Lisa Bale, five grandchildren.

The funeral is 11 a.m. today at Epiphany Lutheran Church, 933 W. Seven Mile Road, Detroit. Visitation begins at church at 10 a.m. Burial follows at Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak.