Ronald Earl Wagner, 90, of Williamsport, died Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at UPMC Williamsport after a brief illness. His wife of 48 years, Phyllis (Henninger) Wagner, preceded him in death on Nov. 17, 2008.
Born May 8, 1932, in Nescopeck, he was the son of Pierce and Lois (Miller) Wagner. He grew up in Bloomsburg, where he graduated from high school with a group of more than two dozen friends who would continue to gather for holiday celebrations for over four decades. With their wives in attendance, these gatherings of “the Bloomsburg Gang” filled hosts’ homes to capacity and always lasted longer than they expected.
After high school, Ron took data processing courses at Bloomsburg State Teachers College (now Bloomsburg University) until enlisting in the Navy at the start of the Korean Conflict. For the next four years, he saw the world while serving aboard a supply ship.
After his discharge in 1954, he and a friend from the Gang who was discharged at the same time used their military separation pay to spend the summer seeing their own country, figuring they might never have the chance again. Starting in Bloomsburg, the route led to Florida before turning west toward the Grand Canyon, hugging the West Coast headed north and finally meandering back east to Bloomsburg.
When it was time to join the workforce, Ron started at Magee Carpet Company, where his father was head carpenter, and later hired on at the local post office. The pay wasn’t much, but he earned enough to go see big bands on the touring circuit that included Saturday nights in Hershey Park and Thursday nights at the Lakewood Ballroom, near Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey’s hometown of Shenandoah. Anybody who was anybody came through, and Ron never missed a show. He and three Gang buddies would leave from work at five and make it by show time, usually in time to find spots close to the stage. Asked which shows were most memorable, Ron would gleefully say it was the ones where he was close enough to get a face full of Louie Armstrong’s trumpet-blowing.
Ron was also passionate about bowling. He was employed as a pin-setter in his youth, and he soon took to the game. By his twenties, he’d become skilled enough that he attracted a sponsor who paid for him to compete in Professional Bowlers Association tournaments across the country. His bowling career ended soon after he met Phyllis Henninger, though. He decided that raising a family with her was a higher priority and realized he couldn’t do both, at least not well. But he didn’t lay down his bowling bag, competing in leagues into his eighties and serving as lane inspector in Lycoming County for several years along the way.
In the 1960s, when computers were still the size of refrigerators, Ron started a data-processing bureau in Montoursville with some colleagues. Among the businesses and organizations that hired them to install computer systems were the Williamsport Area School District, Brodart and LL Stearns. When Shop Vac moved its headquarters to Williamsport, Ron was hired to set up and head the data-processing operation, and he spent the rest of his career there.
Ironically, when computers shrank to desktop size and became household items after his retirement, he had little interest in them. He’d use his wife’s computer only to check the scores of Yankees games, and he never could be persuaded to answer an email.
Ron was involved with Little League baseball throughout his life, first as an assistant coach and ultimately in the elected position of district administrator for District 12 from 1993 to 1998. During his retirement, he served for many years as a team “uncle” during the World Series, helping managers and coaches coordinate activities and offering guidance on series protocol. It was only after a bout with prostate cancer that he finally gave up the position that he considered such an honor.
Before returning to Williamsport in 2021, Ron spent most of his retirement in The Villages, a Florida retirement community where he and Phyllis reveled in their freedom from the nine-to-five. Between golf dates, Ron’s bowling leagues and Phyllis’s rehearsals and performances with the Villages Concert Band (on clarinet), they were somehow busier than they’d been in their working days.
After Phyllis’s death, Ron found a connection with Nancy Cragg (now of Charlottesville, Va.), a member of the church he attended who was also recently widowed, and they spent twelve years together.
Two years ago, Ron moved in with his son Ronald P. “Yuk” Wagner, daughter-in-law Kathy (Bates) Wagner and grandson Blake. After Yuk’s death in November 1921, Kathy and Blake continued to make their home Ron’s home. His other grandson, Drew, lives in Montoursville but visited on an almost daily basis, whether to make him dinner while Kathy worked a late shift or just to check in. In other words, Ron was surrounded by family till the end.
Besides his wife and son, Ron was preceded in death by brother-in-law Victor Wise.
In addition to his grandsons and daughter-in-law, Ron is survived by sons Doug (Toni) Wagner of Conifer, Colo., and Gerald (Sue) Wagner of Virginia Beach, Va.; granddaughters Maggie Wagner of New York City and Liza Wagner of Seattle; sister and brother-in-law Marilyn and John Morrison of Salisbury, Md.; sister-in-law Joyce Wise of Williamsport; and four nephews.
Per Ron’s wishes, there will be no services. Internment will be at New Covenant United Methodist Church, The Villages, Fla.
