Alice Augusta Wagener

Alice A. Wagener (neé McDonnell) died on Sunday, January 11, 2015, in Portland, OR. She was born on August 12, 1920, in Springfield, MA, the daughter of Adah G. and Attorney Thomas A. McDonnell, and sister of Thomas A. McDonnell, Jr. Springfield in 1920 was the prosperous “City of Homes” on the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts and Alice grew up in a friendly neighborhood where young people played tennis in summer and ice-skated in winter. Alice McDonnell and her future husband, Martin C. Wagener, were neighbors; her brother and Martin played tennis together on the neighborhood court. She was a bright student, graduating from Cathedral High School in Springfield at 16, and then from St. Joseph’s College (today The University of St. Joseph) in West Hartford, CT at 20. The McDonnells introduced their children to bridge, a perfect game for a family of four. Alice was a skilled and enthusiastic bridge player her entire life. Movies were another enduring interest. When she was a teenager, it was not unusual for Alice to attend two double features on a Saturday. In her nineties, too, she loved watching favorite films from the 1930s and 1940s on Turner Classic Movies. After college, Alice worked as a customer service representative for the telephone company in Springfield. Following the war, Martin Wagener returned to Springfield to find that his tennis partner’s sister had grown up. They married in 1947 and moved to West Springfield where they raised their three daughters. In 1979, Alice and Martin became Texans. Martin’s company relocated from Chicopee, MA, to Texas. He and Alice decided to move there for the few years before his retirement and then return to Massachusetts or possibly Florida, where they had frequently vacationed. However, the friendly Texans and sunny climate won their hearts and they remained in Texas after Martin’s retirement in 1982. Martin’s golfing buddies and Alice’s bridge friends made life in Texas pleasant in the 1980s and 1990s. Their daughter Joan moved to Texas in 1980 and got married there. Daughter Elizabeth and family were in Portland, OR, which the Wageners visited frequently during family vacations in the West. They also visited daughter Mary and family in Königstein, Germany and then, on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary, in Vienna, Austria. Since Alice missed the ocean in west Texas, the Wageners returned yearly to Anna Maria Island on the Florida Gulf Coast. Spending Christmas on Anna Maria Island became a family tradition for the Wageners, their children and grandchildren. After Martin Wagener died in 2002, Alice decided to stay in Texas and lived independently until breaking her hip in August 2014. In rehab, she was known to staff as the lady who looked her best no matter what, complete with earrings and lipstick. She told the nurses, “if you look better, you feel better.” Alice will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She leaves her two daughters: Mary Wagener (Bernhard Huber) of Vienna, Austria, and Elizabeth Cameron (John) of Portland, OR, grandsons: Alexander Cameron with wife Emily McDowell Cameron of Portland and Martin Fritz Huber of Santa Fe, NM and Brooklyn, NY, with wife Nora Woloszczuk of Brooklyn. Alice was predeceased by her husband Martin, daughter Joan A. Wagener and grandson LTJG Thomas J. Cameron, U.S. Coast Guard. A celebration of Alice’s life will be held at 1:00 pm, Monday, Jan. 19, at Sacred Heart Church, 3910 SE 11th, Portland. Remembrances may be made in Alice’s memory to the “Thomas J. Cameron Memorial Scholarship Fund” at Cleveland High School, 3400 SE 26th Ave., Portland, OR 97202. Service Information