John Edward Wagner

John Edward (Jack) Wagner, beloved father, grandfather, and uncle, passed away on February 2, 2026, at the age of 98. Jack was born in Springfield, Missouri on October 11, 1927, the son of Nicholas Edward Wagner and Esther Caroline Anderson Wagner. He was preceded in death by Louise Wagner, his beloved wife of 65 years; his sister, Carolyn Jean Cook; his parents, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins in Missouri and Wisconsin.

An active Boy Scout, who earned over forty merit badges and became an Eagle Scout with four palms, played a clarinet in the Marching Band, and set up his own chemistry laboratory in Springfield, Jack set his sights on attending the United States Military Academy after reading an article about West Point in the November 12, 1941 issue of Life Magazine.

Prior to accepting his appointment to West Point, Jack enrolled in Drury College in Springfield, where he took pre-engineering courses including chemistry, calculus, surveying, descriptive geometry, government and world history, and was one of the top seven students in his freshman class. The Class of 1950 at West Point was the first class to have electives and having already studied history and government, Jack studied Russian and Latin American History. During his four years at West Point, Jack was on the plebe fencing team and active in the Camera Club, German Club, the Cadet Concert Orchestra and active in the production of three Hundredth Night Shows. On a German Club trip to New York, he took notice of a young woman listening to their lecture in German at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. He approached her and introduced himself, to which she said, “I am Louise Wagner.” Jack and Louise were married in Brooklyn, New York, in July 1950.

Jack was commissioned in the Army Corps of Engineers in June 1950, with orders for the Far East, when the Korean War broke out, sending many young second lieutenants from the West Point Class of 1950 straight into battle. Jack, along with several classmates, were part of the 62nd Engineer Construction Battalion landing in the Inchon Invasion. Upon his return from Korea, Jack was a company commander in the 67th Engineer Aviation Battalion at Fort Leonard Wood, and later an instructor and student at The Engineer School at Fort Belvoir. He was a project officer on the construction of Little Rock Air Force Base, followed by completion of Engineer Officers Advanced Course at Fort Belvoir. Jack and Louise spent three years in Stuttgart, Germany from 1955 to 1958, where Jack was a company commander for two years and on the VII Corps staff for one year, and where son John E. Wagner, Jr, was born in 1956.

Jack went to graduate school at the University of Illinois, where he earned a Masters and PhD in Civil Engineering and a Registered Professional Engineer License. Daughter Mary Louise Wagner was born at Chanute Air Force Base in 1959, while the family was in Illinois. A two-year assignment followed at the Waterways Experiment Station, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, then study of French at the Navy Language School, and orders to Vietnam, where he was the senior engineer advisor at I ARVN Corps in Danang. Upon return from Vietnam, Jack was assigned to the U.S. Army Engineer Nuclear Cratering Group at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, followed by the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. He returned to the nuclear field in 1965 as Chief of Engineering and Construction at the Defense Atomic Support Agency Test Command at Sandia Base in Albuquerque, where he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Jack was selected to command the U.S. Army Engineer Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) in Hanover, New Hampshire, in December 1966. Following four years at CRREL, including some time on a project in Antarctica, Jack returned to Vietnam as Corps Engineer at First Field Force Vietnam, where he was promoted to Colonel. After return from Vietnam, Jack became commander of the U.S. Army Engineer Topographic Laboratories at Fort Belvoir, where they were developing the imagery for the Pershing II terminal guidance system.

Jack became Deputy Director of Army Research in 1974, followed by an assignment to the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Environment, and Safety in 1977. Jack’s final assignment in the Army was the Deputy Division Engineer of the U.S. Army Engineer North Atlantic Division, in New York City, from 1979 to 1981, where Jack worked in Manhattan and the family lived at Fort Totten. Following his retirement from the Army, Jack and Louise moved back to the Washington, D.C. area, where Jack worked for the National Academy of Sciences’ Board on Engineering for three years and for thirteen years at Analytic Services (ANSER), retiring from full time employment on his 70th birthday in 1997.

Always interested in continuing his education, Jack received a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1980. He was a registered professional engineer in New York and Illinois, and a certified public accountant in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In December 2019, Jack was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters by Drury University.

An active volunteer, Jack assisted at the Library of Congress Research Desk for many years in retirement and provided tax assistance through several volunteer organizations. He also participated in alumni activities of the U.S. Military Academy, the University of Illinois, and Drury. Jack also traveled extensively over his lifetime, visiting all of the continents and 48 states. As a result of his work in Antarctica while serving as CRREL commander, a pointed rock and ice spur along the north flank of Pryor Glacier was named Wagner Spur in 1970.

Jack is survived by his son, John E. Wagner, Jr., and his fiancé Rebecca Roper, of Arlington, VA; daughter Mary Louise Wagner and her husband Kevin W. Billings, of Washington, D.C.; grandchildren Kathryn Jishuang Wagner Billings, Alice Yuchen Wagner Billings, and CDR James Clinton Billings, III, United States Navy; nephews David Christopher Cook (Betsy), of San Diego, CA, Curtis Edwin Cook (Lori), of Republic, MO, Kenneth T. Hubbard (Cynthia), of Nokomis, FL, and Stephen W. Hubbard, of Custer, WI; nieces Carolyn (Sis Ann) Broyles, of Aurora, MO, and Marion Madore, of Alcoa, TN; grandnieces and grandnephews Adrianna Broyles (Frank), of Austin, TX, Chelsea Barrett (Kenny), of Boise, ID, David Nicholas Cook (Kelli), of San Diego, CA, Nathan Curtis Cook (Anna), of Springfield, MO, and Christian Edwin Cook (Laura), of Chicago, IL; dear friend Erika Pfeiffer, of Ludwigsburg, Germany, as well as numerous extended family and friends.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, April 10, 2026, at 4 pm, at St. George’s Episcopal Church, in Arlington, VA, with interment at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.