Obituary

Mrs. Lester Wagner Had Been Ill For More Than A Year-Funeral Thursday

  Mrs. Lester Wagner, aged 28 years, died at four o'clock this morning at the home of her mother, Mrs. Claude McCall, 408 East second street, after an illness of more than a year of tuberculosis which resulted from an attack of the influenza.
  She was taken to the state sanitarium at Oakdale in September, 1920, and for a time improved in health, but later suffered from diphtheria, which hastened her death. She came to the home of her mother in August of this year. She showed wonderful patience during her long sickness, and thruout her life manifested and unusually unselfish nature, which endeared her to those who loved her. She had been a member of the Pleasant Hill Christian church since 1905 and was a sincere and earnest Christian. Her death is a severe blow to her husband and two small children, and her untimely death is deplored by a large circle of friends.
  Funeral services will be held at two o'clock Thursday afternoon, conducted by Rev. D. W. Pettit of Albia, assisted by Dr. W. H. Hampton of the local Christian church. Interment will be in Elm Grove cemetery.
  Mary Ethel Wagner was born in the Pleasant Hill community January 25, 1892 and was a daughter of George T. Swift and Phoebe Lindsey Swift. She was married Feb. 28, 1912 to Lester Wagner and they made their home on the Knight Wagner farm southwest of town until she was taken to the hospital for treatment a year ago.
  She is survived by her husband and two children, Leo, aged five years, and Omer, two years of age; four sisters, Mrs. Charles Keating, Mrs. Howard Wittrig, Mrs. Carl Schneider and Miss Gertrude Swift, all of whom live in this community; two brothers, Byran Swift of the Havre vicinity and Arthur of Washington; and two half sisters, Louise and Marguerite McCall. One brother, Sylvester Ray, died in 1909.
(Washington Journal, Washington, Iowa, Tuesday, November 29, 1921)