Year after year, the children and grandchildren would make their way to Donna and Craig Wagner’s Acworth home on Christmas morning. They would be greeted by the smell of the fresh homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon and scrambled eggs that Mrs. Wagner had prepared.
Later in the day there would be turkey, oyster dressing, mashed potatoes, spinach salad with bacon vinaigrette dressing, crescent rolls and more, including up to 12 different desserts.
Donna Wagner continued this holiday feast tradition even while battling Stage 4 breast cancer and enduring multiple experimental treatments over the years, according to her daughter, Elizabeth Wagner Forsythe of Acworth.
“She was a walking miracle,” Mrs. Forsythe said as the family once again prepared to celebrate the holidays. This year, however, the kitchen will be a little quieter and the smells a cherished memory.
Donna Lanham Wagner, 69, a University of Georgia graduate and former member of the DeKalb County Board of Education, lost her 8 1-2/-year battle with breast cancer Sunday at home, surrounded by family.
Family and friends will celebrate her life on Tuesday from 4-7 p.m. at the Atlanta Yacht Club, 7120 Yacht Club Drive in Acworth. SouthCare Cremation Society and Memorial Centers in Marietta is handling arrangements.
Mrs. Wagner grew up in Atlanta, one of four children born to the late William and Sarah Lanham. She graduated from Murphy High School, now Alonzo A. Crim Open Campus High School in Atlanta, and entered UGA to pursue a degree in home economics.
It was at UGA that Craig Wagner, an accounting major, met his future wife. In what Mr. Wagner called a popular tradition at the time, one of his engaged friends was tied to a tree outside a fraternity house and his fiancée had the task of finding and freeing him.
In this case, however, a friend of the fiancée, Donna Lanham, was the one who freed the engaged man. Mr. Wagner said he and Donna struck up a conversation afterward, when he gave her a ride home. The rest was history.
The couple married in 1963 and would have celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary last Tuesday.
Mrs. Wagner worked for the National Cash Register Co. and then for Atlanta Federal Savings and Loan. As her family grew, she left the bank and eventually entered local politics.
Before moving to Cobb County 14 years ago, the family lived in Stone Mountain and Decatur. Mrs. Wagner was elected and re-elected to serve on the DeKalb County Board of Education over a 12-year period, from the mid 1980s to mid-‘90s. Years later, a 35-acre county park on Marbut Road in Redan was named for Mrs Wagner.
In addition to cooking, Mrs. Wagner enjoyed reading, telling jokes and the water, said her husband, who added his wife was on UGA’s synchronized swimming team.
For more than 40 years, Mr. Wagner said, he and his wife were members of the Atlanta Yacht Club and regularly entered races.
Sam Hanley of Dunwoody met Mrs. Wagner at the yacht club 42 years ago and they had been best friends ever since. Mrs. Hanley was also there while Mrs. Wagner endured years of experimental cancer treatments at the Northwest Georgia Oncology Centers and Kennestone Cancer Center.
Mrs. Wagner never complained and always managed a smile and a joke, her friend said.
“She made you feel good just to be around her," Mrs. Hanley said. “That’s a wonderful gift.”
In addition to her husband and daughter, Mrs. Wagner is survived by two sons, Brad Wagner of Marietta and Brian Wagner of Buford, and seven grandchildren.
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