Martha Wagner

Martha Wagner, age 95, of Willmar, died Monday morning, September 5, at Bethesda Heritage Center Nursing Home in Willmar.

Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Friday, September 9, at the United Methodist Church in Willmar. Interment will be at Ripley Cemetery in Litchfield. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Memorials to the United Methodist Church are preferred.

Martha Mack was born on December 14, 1920, in Eldora, Iowa, to William and Emma (Haberlein) Mack. She moved with her family to Long Prairie, Minnesota. Her mother died when she was five years old. She then went to live with an aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Joarnt. They lived on a farm just south of the village of Long Prairie. She attended school at District #124 in Todd County. She graduated from Long Prairie High School in 1940. She worked for Hart Publication before marrying Delmer R. Wagner in 1942. They moved to Litchfield, Minnesota in 1946. They also lived in the Long Lake, Minnesota area for nine years. They moved to Willmar in 1978. Del died in 1993.

Martha was a member of the United Methodist Church in Litchfield, Plymouth Messiah, and in Willmar. In Litchfield she was a member of the U.M.W. and was Superintendent of Sunday Schools. She was a Den Mother for the Boy Scouts, and auxiliary member of the American Legion. She worked at J.C. Penney's and as a nurses aide at the Meeker County Memorial Hospital. While at Messiah Church in Plymouth, she was Superintendent of Sunday Schools and Chairperson of the bazaar. In Willmar she was a member of many committees, chairperson of Mary Circle, President of U.M.W., and delivered meals-on-wheels. She attended Sunday School classes, lead Bible studies, and was the President of Golden K. Kiwanis. She was a homemaker her entire life. She loved to crochet, embroider, and write about her journey with God, but her family was her number one priority next to God.

She is survived by her five children: Daniel (and Evelyn) Wagner of Maple Plain, Bonnie Del (and Richard) Bohn of Litchfield, Leann (and Carroll "Bud") Jacobson of Willmar, Del (and Barb) Wagner of Litchfield, and Thomas Wagner of Las Vegas, NV.; eleven grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren. Also surviving are three sisters, Helen Nielsen of Bloomington, Lucy Crandell of Olympia, WA., and Margaret Davies of Waddell, AZ.; besides other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Del; four brothers, Carl, John, Bill and Bob; four sisters, Ann, Irene, Lorraine and Betty; and sister-in-law Maxine (Mrs. Clayton) Yost of Dassel.

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