Vera M Pritchard Reininger Wagner

Vera was born in Southard, OK, on Oct. 31, 1928, and died at the age of 95 on March 24, 2024, in Houston, TX. She was the second of the four children of Jerd M. and Lorene Pritchard. She grew up on their Blaine County farm and went to school near home until the family moved to Clovis, NM, where Vera graduated from high school. In 1947 Vera married Orville H. Reininger, a school friend from Oklahoma who had recently returned from service in the army. They resided in Perry, OK, where they had two children, Vivian and Bill. The family moved to Edmond in 1961 and then to Oklahoma City after the children graduated from high school. While raising Vivian and Bill in Edmond, Vera attended Central State College (now University of Central Oklahoma) and became an elementary teacher at Millwood School south of Edmond.

After Orville died in 1975, Vera moved to Shreveport, LA, where she co-owned Sunshine Health Foods with her aunt Jean M. Bernheim. On trips back to Clovis to visit her parents who were in declining health, Vera reconnected with Rex Wagner, DDS, whom she had known in high school. Vera soon sold her interest in the store, moved to Albuquerque, and married Rex in 1986. She delighted in making friends with classic country music stars Grampa Jones and Ramona as well as Joe and Rose Lee Maphis, who recorded at the studio of Rex's brother.

The year 2010 brought great tragedy to Vera. Between January and July of that year Vivian Sue [Reininger] Rice, Bill Bailey Reininger, and Rex Wagner died in successive order. After getting her New Mexico affairs in order, Vera bought a house next door to her namesake granddaughter and moved to Spring, TX, where she resided until spending her last few months in a nearby assisted living facility in Houston.

Family was always Vera's top priority. She valued her deep roots in northwest Oklahoma, so for many years she attended the annual Pritchard-Bond reunions at Canton Lake and kept up with her many aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins on both her and Orville's sides of the family. Whenever a family member needed help, Vera was among the first to show up whether in Oklahoma or New Mexico. She adored her two grandchildren and six great grandchildren, three of whom lived next door after she moved to Texas.

In addition to her parents, husbands, and children mentioned above, Vera Wagner was predeceased by two of her siblings, Naeva Marie [Prichard] Hunt and Robert John Prichard. She is survived by grandchildren Travis B. Rice of Madison, GA (Jeannie) and Vera Elizabeth [Rice] Atkinson (Neil) of Spring, TX. She is also survived by her sister Eva Lee [Pritchard] Vinson of Muleshoe, TX, and her long-time son-in-law Bradley R. Rice of Madison, GA. Her great grandchildren, all now grown or in college, were Sarah Leia Atkinson, Alfred Paul Atkinson, Maggie Sofia Atkinson, Katherine Sylvia [Rice] Katafias (Anthony), David Travis Rice, and Drew James Rice. She had two great-great grandchildren, Oliver Gray Katafias and Nova Jade Katafias.

Graveside services to inter the cremains of Vera M. Wagner will be at 4pm on June 8, 2024, at the family plot in Mount Hope Cemetery, Fay, Oklahoma.