Donna Louise Wagner

Donna L. Wagner, PhD died due to complications related to vascular dementia on June 26, 2024, in Las Cruces, NM. Born on January 29, 1948 in Seattle, WA, Donna was a dedicated mother and wife, a cherished friend, collaborative and engaged scholar, and a beloved member of the communities around the country where she lived and worked. Throughout her life, she was known for her compassion, generosity, intelligence, her ability to inspire others, and her unwavering commitment to her friends and family as well as her to her field of study, gerontology.

Donna was predeceased by her only son, David G. Jette, and her parents, Bill and J'Anne Wagner. She is survived by her husband, Peter Niles, her daughter, Kelly Niles, her two grandsons, David Niles Yokum, and Charles Wyatt Yokum, brothers Robert Wagner and Will Wagner (sp Laurie), sisters, Nancy Kreienkamp (sp Fred) and Janis Rehmke (sp Rick) and a wealth of nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles who will all hold their myriad of memories and adventures with her close to their hearts.

Family and friends were Donna's main joy throughout her life. All were welcome in her home and at her table. Whether you were related to her, worked with her, met her at a coffee shop or conference, you were considered family. Known for her cooking skills, everyone looked forward to a meal in her and Peter's home because it was never just a meal. It was a coming together. It was laughter and friendship and stories and wine. It was this generosity of spirit that she has instilled in her daughter and her grandchildren. Her grandchildren were a great source of joy and adventure for Donna, also known as Mimi to them. Their friends were her grandchildren too. Her daughters friends were her children too. This is the gift she gave to generations of children and young adults who sought safety and love in her home. Donna enjoyed road trips with her grandsons, fishing trips, fishing and swimming in the Rio Grande. The three of them were absolutely The Three Musketeers, their laughter lives in the corners of everywhere Donna and her grandsons have been.

After freeing herself and her children from an abusive marriage in 1977, recovering her children from a year long abduction by her then estranged husband, Donna never gave up her dreams. The dream of freedom, of independence, of a better life for her children free from violence and emotional abuse. Her passion for the importance of students being able to attend professional disciplinary conferences was born out of violence and the extreme efforts to keep her from attending her first gerontology conference. She fought her way there and has since mentored and supported students to ensure they have the experience that lit the fire in her soul. While her children were missing she never gave up searching for them, while also never giving up her dream of finishing her doctoral degree which took her to the streets of Portland to talk to and understand what the lived experience of life on the margins was like for older adults in a city trying to find its way in the context of homelessness and aging. After a year of searching and finding her children and finishing her studies at PSU, she moved her family of three to Milford, CT where they started anew living in a rented home on Walnut Beach, a place where Donna, Kelly and David began to heal and began again. It is because of her mother that Kelly went on to ultimately receive her doctoral degree in gerontology and worked closely with her mother for decades.

In this current environment of the dismantling of women's reproductive rights it is important to tell the story of her absolute commitment to empowering and protecting young women. In 1979 Donna realized after hearing stories from her daughter and her friends, that she needed to take action to support, educate and protect this group of young women. She loaded everyone up in her Datsun station wagon and drove from Milford, CT to New Haven, CT and arrived at Planned Parenthood to a large group of anti-choice protestors. She guided them all in and ensured that every person received the information they needed including contraception that had been denied to them previously. Kelly and her friends still talk about this empowering time in their life when one woman, a mom, an advocate, was there for them.

She was deeply connected to her time in many places including Claremont, CA where she attended El Roble elementary school and Claremont High School where she was a part of the synchronized swimming team and other clubs during her time there. She received her BS in psychology (1975), Master's in Urban Studies (1978), and her Ph.D. (1980), all from Portland State University, in Portland Oregon. Donna's home was the Institute on Aging, she recently attended and spoke on a panel to celebrate the IoA's 50th anniversary. Her dissertation was titled, Informal Group Participation and Life Outcomes of Frail Urban Elderly, supported by a dissertation award she received from the Administration on Aging (DHHS) dissertation award.

Dr. Wagner's last professional appointment before retiring in 2017 was as the Dean for College of Health and Social Services, New Mexico State University (NMSU). She also served as the Interim Dean and Associate Dean for from 2011-2015. In 2015 Dr. Wagner organized a community event to educate and increase awareness around issues related to end-of-life issues and advanced planning. The full day event titled, "A Beautiful Death... What Will You Choose?" was part of the Dean's Health Symposium held by New Mexico State University's College of Health and Social Services. The event included the largest Death Cafe held in the world to date with over 400 people participating.

Prior to moving to New Mexico for her new appointment, she founded the Gerontology Program at Towson University in Towson, MD (1997) and was the Director of the Center for Productive Aging at Towson. From 1993-1997 she worked with the National Council on Aging in Washington, DC as the Vice President for Research and Development and as the Director for the National Institute on Consumer Directed Home and Community Based Services. Dr. Wagner's academic career began at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport CT (1980-1990) where she rose through the academic ranks to ultimately be named as the Director of the Division of Human and Community Services, in the College of Health Sciences.

Donna's move to Bridgeport, CT with her 2 children, from the quiet suburbs of Milford, CT was an incredibly career and life changing chapter in her life. She met Peter Niles and started the South End Preservation Group in an effort to effect change in the south end of the city. Donna and Peter fell in love and spent their life together engaged in projects related to improving the communities in which they lived. During her time as a professor and director at UB, in the 1980s, the Unification Church, run by Sun Myung Moon, bought the University of Bridgeport and fired a significant number of faculty and staff. As someone who has never been afraid to fight for justice, Donna was instrumental in leading the longest strike in higher education history. Donna and Peter shared their home in the south end of the city with the community and friends and neighbors which also became a regular gathering place for strike meetings and meals, and a place of safety and fellowship. Donna was a warrior for social justice. Her dedication to fighting for what she believed in inspired many and has and will, leave a lasting legacy.

Over the course of her career, she developed and expanded undergraduate and graduate programs in gerontology at several universities; mentored countless students and emerging professionals; conducted leading edge research in the fields of caregiving, including work and elder care, the aging network, transportation, housing and long-term care. Donna had a wealth of administrative and research experience in both academia and the nonprofit sector and contributed support and leadership to the Association of Gerontology in Higher Education, the Gerontological Society of America, the American Society of Aging, the Older Women's League and regional professional organizations. Throughout her life she was committed to professional and community service. She greatly valued diverse perspectives and had the rare ability to generate enthusiasm among, bring together, and collaborate with individuals from different disciplinary and educational backgrounds. She was a skilled bridge builder in both her professional and personal life. She was well-known for her engaging presentation style at conferences and events. She was articulate, well-grounded in the literature, insightful, generous, and thought provoking.

The author of many books, articles, reports from state, county and federal agencies, Donna enjoyed writing and conducting research with her trusted colleagues and friends and her daughter, her favorite writing partner, Kelly Niles with whom she published several books and articles with. In her professional life, Dr. Wagner was most passionate about her faculty and students and ensuring they were supported and heard and had opportunities for growth and development. She was not afraid to voice her opinions and was a fierce defender of all who were not being heard or did not have access to the platform she developed for this purpose over her life. She worked with many nonprofit organizations through her research and governance and enjoyed immensely opportunities for governance, particularly within her beloved gerontology associations The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, The Gerontological Society of America, and The American Society on Aging. Donna was not only respected by her peers but had a profound impact on the field of gerontology through her teaching, research, writing, and, governance, community engagement.

We will miss her contagious laugh, her quick wit, her humor, and her penchant for pranks and limericks. Even through her dementia, until the end, she would sit at her piano and play complicated classical pieces. While reading the music became more challenging as her disease took over more of her incredible brain, she still put her fingers to the keys and made music that still resonates throughout the house. Her piano bench sits empty now but her spirit remains large in all of our spaces and all of our hearts.

We miss Donna, our Mimi, beyond measure.

Join us for a celebration of Donna's life:

All are welcome

Saturday, October 5th, 2024 from 3-5p

Simon Benson House

Portland State University

1803 SW Park Avenue

Portland, OR 97201

Flowers welcome, as well as donations to a scholarship for student travel to gerontology conferences currently being set up via Bold.org with more information to follow.