Norman Keith Wagner

A gardener has gone to rest. Professor Norman K. Wagner, age 86, died January 27, 2019. He was born in Longview, Washington on October 3, 1932 to Gladys and Herman Wagner.

As a young man, Norman loved nature and had many adventures with his buddies hiking and camping at Mt. St. Helens. He also enjoyed playing the piano in several dance bands.

After graduating from Kelso High School in 1950, he and three buddies celebrated by taking a car trip from Kelso, Washington to Mexico and making a loop through national parks on the way home. They each had $75 and stayed with as many relatives as possible! He spent the rest of the summer working at Mt. Rainier National Park before enrolling at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Meteorology. During spring break of his senior year (1954) he married Barbara Saville of Kelso.

In January 1956 they moved to Austin, Texas, where he was offered a position with the University of Texas doing research and teaching. In the late '50s and early '60s he was also one of the TV weathermen at KTBC, the only TV station in Austin at the time.

The dean of engineering strongly urged Norman to get a doctorate. Norm was awarded a National Science Fellowship and the family moved to Hawaii from 1963-1966, where he earned the first doctorate in Meteorology to be awarded by the University of Hawaii.

With a new doctorate in hand they returned to Austin where he enjoyed a 36-year career teaching meteorology in the civil engineering department. His caring and capable teaching style, plus a wonderful sense of humor, made him a very popular professor and colleague. His sense of humor has been described as being much like his martini – very dry.

Norman loved gardening and, in addition to his own vegetable garden, donated many hours to Zilker Botanical Garden. He was very involved with the Men's Garden Club, serving as president and long-time newsletter editor. Norman was also president of the Austin Area Garden Council. He enjoyed photography, and was proud to have several of his botanical pictures chosen to be in the national Gardeners of America calendars, including the featured cover photo in 2000, 2004 and 2005.
Norman and Barbara loved to travel and crisscrossed the country attending National Garden Club conventions and exploring bed & breakfast inns. They learned to snorkel in Hawaii and enjoyed the Caribbean and even got to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia while on a gardening themed tour of New Zealand.

He was a great dad - fun loving, supportive, sensitive. The special bond he and Barbara shared was a wonderful example to his daughters of what true love looks like and feels like.

He was devoted to his family; his wife of 64 years, Barbara, and two daughters, Cheryl Rugeley (Rob) and Wendy (Kenneth Finch). He was blessed with two granddaughters, Melissa Rugeley and Rachel Rugeley Russo (Joe), and was so happy to welcome great grandson Callahan Russo a year ago. Also part of the family are his step-grandchildren; Cole Finch, Alexis Finch, her partner, Fernando Montoya and their children, Simone and Harvey.
Norman was preceded in death by his parents, brother Larry, and daughter Wendy.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Wendy Wagner Foundation for Funding Creativity (wendywagnerfoundation.org) or Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy (zbgconservancy.org).

A celebration of Norman's life will be held Saturday March 2, 2019 at 2:00 pm at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 North Lamar, Austin, Texas 78752.