Peter Stephen Wagner
11/19/1953 – 11/22/2018

On Thanksgiving morning, November 22, 2018, Peter Stephen Wagner peacefully went to be with the Lord after a courageous battle with cancer.

He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, to Reuben and Helen Wagner. After living in Des Moines and Glen Ellyn, IL, for a few years each, he moved with his family in the summer of 1957 to Moscow, ID. He grew up there and went to college at the University of Idaho, getting a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1976. After graduation, he worked for a private quality control testing and inspection firm in Wyoming for 18 months before going to work for the U.S. Forest Service at Kalispell, MT in 1977.

In 1983, Peter transferred with the Forest Service to Darrington, WA and then to Sedro Woolley in 1986, where he worked until his retirement in 2015. He worked as a geotech engineer until the 90's when he transitioned into bridge engineering and for the last 13 years was the Forest Bridge Engineer for the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. During his Forest Service career, he worked on the preconstruction and/or construction of over 100 road and trail bridges and was responsible for the maintenance inspections of about 200 bridges. In 2007, he was awarded the National Technical Engineer of the Year for the U.S. Forest Service. He was known for being able to find ways to solve challenging bridge problems.

In 2015, Peter retired from the Forest Service and went to work for Snohomish County Public Works in Everett, first as a construction project engineer, and then as a design engineer on the bridge team. He worked there until his passing.

Peter's most important treasure was his faith in God and his family. He was very active in his church and was able to go on two ministry trips to help in other countries, Brazil (2015) and Africa (2017). He was married to his wife, Shelley, in 1992 and always celebrated their anniversary by sending her a bouquet of roses equaling the number of years they were married. When the kids and grandkids were all home, he loved the time spent around the table playing games and working puzzles. Since his cancer diagnosis, he made opportunities to create memories with family, most recently with a family trip to Disneyland in July and on a Caribbean cruise with other family members in October. And there wasn't any activity he couldn't track with a spreadsheet, including our Disneyland trip, to ensure everyone got to do what was most important to them at the Happiest Place on Earth! Peter was godly, loving, kind, loyal, thoughtful, generous, patient, positive, and a wise man who will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.

Peter was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife Shelley of Mount Vernon, brother Brent Wagner of Ann Arbor, Michigan, children Aaron (Brandi) Wagner of Mount Vernon, Gabrielle (Eric) Hensyel of Post Falls, Idaho, Collin Wagner of Ogden, Utah, and grandchildren Nathan, Trenton, Natalie, Aleena, Mattie and Evan.

We are truly grateful to Dr. Mehrdad Jafari and the infusion nurses of Skagit Cancer Care Alliance and to all of the people of Hospice NW for their care of Peter and our family.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Mount Vernon Church of the Nazarene, 2710 E. Fir Street, at 11 am, Saturday, December 15, 2018. Since Peter had such a heart for helping to meet the needs in other countries through his church, donations can be made to Mount Vernon Church of the Nazarene Work & Witness Fund in lieu of flowers.

Remembrances may be left on the Hawthorne Lawn website at www.hawthornefuneralhm.com