Wagner, Helen
WAGNER (SCHUMPERT), Helen Marie "Muff"
Helen Marie Schumpert Wagner, known to all as "Muff" since a teen, died peacefully at home on February 19, 2022, with her family easing her new journey. A joyous celebration of her beauty, grace, and intelligence, her steel magnolia spirit, and her giving nature is being planned for her devoted family and many friends at a later date.
Muff, 74, was born in Greenville, SC, the only child of Frank Earle and Helen Vance Schumpert. She was locally famous as the little girl whose property near the center of the city sported many animals, including a flock of peacocks. She graduated from Goucher College with a degree in music, later earning three master's degrees including Master of Divinity from Emory University.
A straight line through life was not Muff's style. Starting as a temp in Sen. Fritz Hollings' Charleston office, she talked her way into a job as a reporter for the Charleston Post and Courier. This she effortlessly balanced with starting a family and supporting her medical student husband. Moving for his training, the family settled in Atlanta in 1981. Her plan to become a hospital chaplain was "temporarily" put on hold in 1987 while she helped her husband start his new pediatrics office. During the next 29 years of mom-and-pop operation she positively influenced two generations of anxious parents with wisdom and a calm voice while efficiently running the practice (and her husband).
Outside of work, Muff volunteered at church and school, and was an intrepid traveler. She loved playing piano duets with her husband. And she was a friend, role model and advisor to many of her sons' friends, who spent hours at her kitchen table.
In 2017, Muff and Rick retired to their beach home on the Isle of Palms, which she considered heaven on earth, especially when her grandchildren visited.
Muff leaves her husband, Richard G. Wagner, Jr., MD; sons John Graham Wagner (Amanda) of Isle of Palms, Peter Schumpert Wagner (Marilee Herring) of Rhinebeck, NY, and David Vance Wagner (Eva) of Mountain View, CA; and grandchildren Alyssa, Evan, Phoebe, Zebulon, and Ian. They join an ocean liner of other relatives and friends, lost at sea without her.
To honor Muff's memory, her family suggests a donation to Windwood Farm Home for Children in her name.
Arrangements in care of Charleston Cremation Center and Funeral Home.
View the obituary on Legacy.com
Funeral Home Information
Charleston Cremation Center & Funeral Home
2054 Wambaw Creek Rd. Suite A
Charleston, SC
29492
