Dorothy L. Wagner, was born on April 7, 1924 in Turon, Kansas to Evert J. and Olive Faye (Boyke) Schmidt. She attended school at Plainview (5 years), Neola (3 years), and graduated from Turon High School in 1941.She started working for Cessna Aircraft at Hutchinson, KS in 1942 building gliders, then at Beech Aircraft in Wichita in 1947. On February 26, 1951 she returned to Cessna Aircraft in Wichita, and spent 36 years there, mostly building airplane wings. She retired from Cessna in 1987 and spent part of her retirement years traveling all over the world with her daughter, Theresa. As a child, Dorothy attended Neola Christian Church in Neola, KS. She was baptized at Olivet Baptist Church in Wichita, KS in 1958, and has been a member of that church since that time. She became the bride of Raymond Ralph Finch on Christmas Day, 1944 and their only child, Theresa Ann, was born on June 14, 1948. During their time together they enjoyed roller skating, camping, water skiing and boating, square dancing, and round dancing. During summer vacations over a period of years they traveled to all 50 states. Dorothy also took flying lessons through the Cessna Flying Club and obtained her pilot’s license. After their divorce, Dorothy married Robert Edwin Wagner on March 12, 1966 in Tucumcari, NM. Together Bob and Dorothy were active in Amaranths, Daughters of the Nile, Eastern Star, True Kindred and the White Shrine in Wichita. Besides traveling, her favorite activities were working in her yard and tending her garden and flower beds. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Robert Wagner in 1981, brother Everett J. Schmidt, sisters Lorraine Bruns, Argle Mauck, and Marcella Jane Fisher. She is survived by daughter, Theresa Walker of Bixby, Oklahoma, grand-daughter Karen Harris and husband Terry Harris of North Richland Hills, TX, grandson Austin Harris and partner Rich Hill of Dallas, TX and grandson Reyden Harris of Addison, TX. She is also survived by one brother-in-law Kenneth Mauck of Limon, CO and several nieces and nephews and their families. Her Celebration of Life service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sat. Aug. 25, 2018 at Resthaven Mortuary Chapel, 11800 West Highway 54, Wichita, KS.
