Steven Duane Wagner

A Memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 1st in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Steven Duane Wagner (Steve Wagner) passed away at the age of 75 on February 16, 2024. He died of natural causes near his home in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Steve was born on September 30, 1948 in Ellinwood, Kansas, to his parents, Duane Wagner and Sylvia Schmidt. He was the oldest of three boys (Bob and Dave Wagner), who grew up in eastern central Kansas playing on the farm. His childhood instilled a strong work ethic and a lifelong habit of fixing things - he was never one to outsource work that he could do himself. Steve attended St Joseph Elementary school and graduated from Ellinwood High School in 1966. He ran track as a quarter miler and also earned a medal at the Kansas Relays in the ten-mile run. As a youth, Steve was active in Boy Scouts attaining the rank of Life.

At 18, he matriculated at Kansas State University completing a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. While at university, he also studied Latin and played bridge. He also enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps and upon graduation served in the army for a short period as an active officer, and then as a reserve officer, attaining the rank of captain.

After graduation, Steve worked for Dow Chemicals as a chemical engineer, working on oil and gas processes in Baton Rouge. Over the next decade, he earned a Master’s of Business Administration from Louisiana State University and worked for Fluor in Houston, TX. He used to talk fondly of this time - working in the refineries around the gulf, taking helicopter flights to offshore oil platforms, eating oysters, and traveling to Saudi Arabia.

While working in Houston, he met his future wife Elaine Dudley, who was studying to become a doctor and working part-time at Fluor. They married in 1981 and had two sons, Nicholas and Patrick. In the 1980s, Steve and Elaine raised their children in Bellaire, Houston, updated their home using his woodworking skills, spent holidays at Canyon Lake, and enjoyed the frequent downpours, which created minor flooding in the street near the house, much to the kids' delight.

In 1989, the family moved to Greenwood Village, Colorado. Steve began work at Merrick and Company, an engineering consultancy, where he would work until 2014 upon retirement as Vice-President. Here, Steve taught his sons the do-it-yourself attitude learned in his youth and ingrained in them a curiosity for how the world worked. He also took on new hobbies, learning to ski, then at his sons’ behest, to snowboard. He led the family on adventures including hiking, fishing and skiing in the Rocky Mountains; 4-wheeling in Moab; rafting in Jackson Hole; and exploring the Caribbean, Alaska, Costa Rica, and Europe. After his sons left for college, Steve mentored young engineers and focused on one of his greatest professional achievements: the bioethanol processing facility at the Coors Brewery, a blueprint for bioethanol production based on waste beer and residuals feedstock.

In 2013, he experienced a spinal cord injury, which reduced his mobility. He and Elaine separated in 2018 after 37 years of marriage. In 2023, he was diagnosed with cancer. Despite these life changes and challenges, his outlook remained positive and he continued living life; now more focused on his love of nature and gardens, finance and investment, the arts and sciences (where he volunteered as a docent), and his sons.

Steve is survived by his two sons, Nicholas and Patrick, his brothers Bob and Dave, and Dave’s children Paige and Casey. A memorial will be held in his honor in the summer of 2024.