Debbie Wagner

Debbie grew up in a large family, often thinking about her siblings and parents before herself. From a young age, she was determined to help others. Living in a large family there was not a lot of down time. During her time in school, she loved playing trumpet in the band and being in the Girl Scouts. Debbie’s love for school was two-fold. Debbie experienced both spectrums of the educational system. She saw the difference in educators who were called, who had an anointing, and those who were doing a job. Her life was impacted by the hands of her gifted educators. Secondly, Debbie being extremely involved in Josh’s education spent a great deal of time at Holiday Hill participating in functions and assisting in the classroom. She was every teacher’s dream room Mom. The more time she spent at the school, she saw that the learning gaps in Josh’s education were not getting smaller but rather changing and becoming more evident. With Eric about to enter Kindergarten and Josh already struggling Debbie decided to have a private tutor home school Josh and Eric. The tremendous success that both boys were achieving word quickly spread. A small home school group was formed. When the vision was shared in March of 2002 the home school group of 13 children officially opened up in August 2002 as Cornerstone Christian School. With the vision of working families could obtain a Christian, nurturing, academically sound education for an affordable price. Today her legacy lives on.

Debbie loves Jesus, she loved to worship Him. Having grown up in the church she had a relationship and knowledge of Jesus. As an adult, having lost her sister, Barbara, she clung onto Christ and wanted others to know about Christ so that she and they could spend eternity with Barbara. Debbie was a Team Leader at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of FL in the F.E.P department from 1990 to 2006 when she retired due to ALS. Debbie worked for almost 2 years with no ability to speak only communicate via email and hand written notes, she continued to serve as a Team Leader. Each day after her job at BCBS she would come and work 4 to 6 hours at Cornerstone. Throughout Debbie’s battle with ALS her beautiful smile would light up the room. She never once felt sorry for herself, cried, stop laughing, and most importantly she never stopped praising God.

Debbie was preceded in death by her parents, Dorothy Kozak and Florindo Tolosi; and her sister, Barbara Isley. She is survived by husband, Thomas Wagner; sons, Eric Wagner, and Joshua Myers; grandson, Jaxson Meyers; brothers Frank, Mike, and Rich Tolosi, Kenneth, and David Isley; and her sisters, Sue Maldonado and Kathy Isley.

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HARDAGE-GIDDENS, THE OAKLAWN CHAPEL, 4801 San Jose Blvd is serving the family.