Dr. Bill Wagner

September 05, 2018

Dr. Bill Wagner of Stockton, Missouri, passed away August 18, 2018, at the age of 69 after an extended illness. He was born in a doctor’s office in Rolla, Missouri, on October 14, 1948 and, to the surprise of everyone, a twin sister, Betty, was also born.
Bill was the only son of Raymond Marion Wagner and Mabel Edna (Leonard) Wagner. The couple also had four daughters. Bill’s sisters would often call him their “favorite brother.”

Bill graduated from Rolla High School in 1966. One night during the summer between high school and college, he was listening to a Billy Graham crusade on television. The Holy Spirit convicted him and he was saved later that night at home in bed. He loved to study the word of God and preferred the King James version of the Bible.
He joined the First Baptist Church of Rolla and later became a member of the Stockton Missionary Baptist Church for several years. There he served as a Sunday School teacher and the superintendent of the Sunday School.

Bill attended the University of Missouri at Rolla for two years and then transferred to the University of Missouri in Columbia. It was there that he met his future wife, Linda Clifford. They were married December 20, 1969, in Stockton, Missouri. After finishing college in the spring of 1970, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri and he started dental school in the fall at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He graduated from dental school in 1974 and opened his first dental practice on Main Street in Lockwood, Missouri.
Two decades later the couple moved to Linda’s family farm southwest of Stockton in the Wagoner community when his in-laws became disabled. Bill opened a dental office there and practiced until he became ill, except for the time spent rebuilding after a devastating tornado in 2003.

A son, Darrin Keith, was born to Bill and Linda in 1977. Bill and his son were very close. Darrin was raised in the dental office and later worked for his father for several years doing dental lab work. A few years ago Darrin married a lovely girl named Joanna. Bill enjoyed having her for a daughter-in-law and soon trained her to do lab work also.

Dr. Wagner was a dedicated dentist and servant of God. He only averaged four or five hours of sleep a night and denied himself time to spend with the family he loved so much. His dental practice served as an avenue for him to spread the word of God.

He is survived by his wife, Linda (Clifford) Wagner of the home; one son, Darrin Keith Wagner and wife, Joanna, of Stockton, Missouri; three sisters: Patricia Ann Brashear of Wentzville, Missouri; Barbara Rae Skelton and husband, John of Independence, Missouri; and Becky Sue Melton and husband, Jim, of Lake Mary, Florida. Also surviving are several cousins, a niece and several nephews.

Bill was predeceased by his parents; his twin sister, Betty Mae Benton; a nephew, Jeffrey Grant Lemasters; a brother-in-law, Bill Brashear; and his in-laws, Floyd and Ida Belle Clifford.
Memorials may be made to the Wagoner School House fund or Wagoner Cemetery.

Services, under the care and direction of Bland-Brumback Funeral Home, were held Saturday, August 25, 2018, in The Stockton Assembly of God Church with burial in Wagoner Cemetery.