Dolores Clara Reagin

Dolores Clara Pannier Reagin died of lung cancer on June 29, 2014 in her daughter's home in Ballwin, Mo. Born February 6, 1926 in Granton, Wis., the daugher of William and Clara (Eberhardt) Pannier was the youngest of six children. Baptized as an infant, she was a dedicated, life-long Lutheran and a member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Ft. Wayne, Ind. An adventurer at heart, Dolores left home after high school working at her first job as a 'Rosie the Riveter' in Racine, Wis., where she helped assemble B-26 airplane sections during WWII. She later worked in Milwaukee at Northwestern Publishing House and Concordia College; in Chicago at the headquarters for the Walther League and for a company in Los Angeles before answering the State Department call for foreign aid workers which took her to Addis Abba, Ethiopia in 1960. There she met and married Charles T. Reagin, a sergeant in the US Air Force. They spent the next fourteen years moving from place to place as a military family. Her adventures included flying a plane across the Sahara, and fleeing both Ethiopia and the Dominican Republic during military coups with bullets flying and tanks in the streets. In 1980, at the age of 54, she began college, graduating with highest honors from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., earning a master’s degree in library science. She served tirelessly and with great joy for 10 years as the director of the Clinton Public Library in Clinton, Ind. before retiring and moving to Fort Wayne, Ind. where she became a beloved kindergarten teacher's aide at St. Paul Lutheran School."I have a treasure chest of memories." Surviving are her children, Pamela (Jeffrey) Nielsen of Ballwin, Mo., Thomas (Lynn) Reagin of Valrico, Fla., four grandchildren, Rebekah Nielsen, Chicago, Ill., Aaron Nielsen (Kezia), St. Louis, Mo., Anna Nielsen, Ballwin, Mo., Kristin Reagin of Valrico, Fla. and great-grandson, Clarence Nielsen, St. Louis, Mo.; brothers: Rev. Clarence Pannier, Davenport, Iowa and Rev. Elmer Pannier, Eau Claire Wis. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles T. Reagin and two sisters and one brother. Funeral service will be held at Hope Lutheran Church, 5218 Neosho St, St Louis, MO 63109, Monday, July 7 at 10:00 a.m. Visitation will be held at the church one hour before the service at 9:00 a.m. Burial will be Tuesday, July 8, 10:00 a.m. in Marion National Cemetery, Marion, Ind. Preferred memorials are to Lutheran Public Radio, Collinsville, Ill., the International Mission Fund of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod or Hope Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Mo.

Memorials may be directed to:

Lutheran Public Radio

P.O. Box 353

Collinsville, IL 62234

LCMS International Mission Fund

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Mission Advancement

1333 S. Kirkwood Road

St. Louis, MO 63122-7295

Hope Lutheran Church

5218 Neosho St,

St Louis, MO 63109