Don E. Wagner

Don E. Wagner, 79, of Manila, passed from this life Monday, Feb. 27, 2023, at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro. The son of the late Oscar Bryan “O.B.” and Bertha Griffin Wagner, he was a lifelong Manila resident, a 1961 graduate of Manila High School, and had served in the U.S. Army Reserve. Don E. was an entrepreneur at heart. He was a farmer, a longtime employee of Manila Public Schools, and eventually retired from Nucor-Yamato Steel in 2006. He served his community in several capacities over the years including several terms on the Manila City Council and over 20 years with the Manila Fire Department. Don E. loved people. He enjoyed visiting at the Senior Citizen Center, the fellowship with his Sunday school class, and cooking and playing cards at his shop with all his friends. He loved hunting, fishing, running his sawmill, and spoiling his wife, but most of all, he loved being PaPa to Luke, Laci and Timber Don. He was a longtime member of the First Baptist Church in Manila. In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by four brothers, Fred Wagner, Ralph Wagner, Dean Wagner and Wayne Wagner; one sister-in-law, Bonnie Wagner; and two brothers-in-law, Jerome Gray and Bud Erney. 

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Toshya Rice Wagner; one son, Kent Wagner; one daughter, Aimee Wagner McLaughlin (Mac); grandchildren, Luke McLaughlin (Kaula), Janna Lace Wagner (Kailib Brooks), and great-grandchild, Timber Don McLaughlin, all of Manila; two sisters, Freda Gray of Salem and Linda Erney of Jonesboro; one brother, Jim Wagner (Nancy) of Jonesboro. Don E. also leaves two sisters-in-law, Neva Wagner and Charolette Wagner; many nieces and nephews, and his 13-year-old Labrador, Lucy.

Funeral service will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, at the Howard Funeral Service Chapel in Manila with Dr. Matt Pryor, Rev. Ray Dill and Paul Wayne Hicks officiating. Burial will follow in Manila Cemetery. Active pallbearers will include William Hill, Loy Jackson, Gerald Hudspeth, Sammie Parker, Jimmy Wagner, Tommy Towles, Bobby Walton, and Kailib Brooks. The family will receive friends from 12:30 until service time at the funeral home. Friends may sign the online guest register at www.HowardFuneralService.com.