GUY WAGNER, FOUNDER OF UNI CURRICULUM LAB DIES AT 82
Services are tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 28, 1985, for Guy W. Wagner, 82, founder of the University of Northern Iowa Curriculum Laboratory, who died Thursday of natural causes at Mesa Lutheran Hospital, Mesa, Arizona. Funeral services for Wagner, of 3414 Kennedy Lane in Waterloo, will be at Graves United Methodist Church in Waterloo. Interment will be in Reinbeck Cemetery.
Wagner was a professor emeritus of teaching at the University of Northern Iowa. He began his career at UNI in 1941 as head of the Department of Teaching. He founded the Curriculum Laboratory in 1945, which later expanded to include the Educational Media Center in 1967. He served on the board of the UNI Foundation for nine years, and in 1969 was elected its president. In 1961, he was honored with the University's Alumni Achievement award, and in 1974 he received the Alumni Service Award.
Wagner has written hundreds of magazine articles and more than thirty-five educational books, including a series of Reading Skill Builder books for Readers Digest in 1959. He continued his work in educational publishing after retiring from UNI in 1970. His most recent projects have been workbooks and activity books. At the time of his death, two elementary science books, Our Solar System and Our Human Body, had been accepted for publication.
Wagner was active in professional organizations, serving as president of the Iowa Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and treasurer of Phi Delta Kappa. He was a member of the American Association of School Administration, New York State Science Committee, New York State Council for the Social Studies, New York State Teachers Association, Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), and National Education Association. He was a contributing editor for Midland Schools, a magazine of the ISEA, and Early Years, a national magazine for teachers.
Wagner also was a columnist and associate editor for the national magazine Education. He was a consultant for the Iowa Department of Public Instruction and was a member of the six-person team to survey the Activity Program of the New York City Schools. In 1972, he visited schools in Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong, talking to students about America and the English language. At the local level, he had been chairman of the Cedar Falls chapter of the American Red Cross, education committee chairman for the Lions Club, and state radio chairman for the Iowa PTA.
Before coming to UNI, he taught at Wartburg College in Clinton and Syracuse University in New York. During the Second World War, he served as an education professor at the American University for G. I.'s in Shrivenham, England. And, he was a supervisor of the Ames public schools, principal of the Laboratory School at Oswego (N.Y.) State University, superintendent of the Colesburg schools, and high school principal at Olds. Wagner received his Ph. D. and M. A. degrees, in 1935 and 1927, respectively, from the University of Iowa and his bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 1926, where he was president of his senior class. He also did postgraduate work at the University of Washington, Seattle.
He was born in Reinbeck, August 15, 1902, son of the late William B. and Edith Mae Watson Wagner. He is survived by his wife, Gladys Redlinger Wagner; two daughters, Jacqueline Vandercreek, Morrison, Illinois, and Joan Cesinger, La Verne, California; a son, Dr. William Wagner of Columbia, Missouri; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
French's Funeral Home in Reinbeck is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be made to the Guy Wagner Scholarship Fund at Reinbeck High School.
Public Information News Release, March 22, 1985
DR. GUY W. WAGNER
Dr. Guy W. Wagner, emeritus professor of teaching at the University of Northern Iowa, died March 21, 1985, in Mesa, Arizona, following a brief illness.
He was born August 15, 1902, in Reinbeck, Iowa, and received his B. A. from Iowa State Teachers College in 1926. He was president of the senior class during his final term here. He taught in Olds, Iowa, where he rose to the position of principal and later at Colesburg, Iowa, where he became superintendent. His M. A. and Ph. D degrees were obtained at the University of Iowa in 1929 and 1935. He served as an elementary principal and supervisor in the Ames Public Schools.
Dr. Wagner taught summer school at Wartburg College, which was then at Clinton, Iowa, and also at Syracuse University. He was principal of the Laboratory School at Oswego State Teachers College in New York before returning to ISTC to become the Head of the Department of Teaching and Director of the Laboratory School in 1941, which was then located in what is now Sabin Hall. In 1945 he moved from that position to develop the Curriculum Laboratory which became an exemplary facility and served as a model for others of its type, and is one of his many outstanding contributions to the University. This became the Educational Media Center in 1967; later, the Curriculum Laboratory was spun off and became a separate entity in the College of Education.
For several years he was a popular motivational speaker at county institutes for teachers, but his real interest and success came from writing. He was a contributing editor for many years to Midland Schools, the ISEA Journal, writing alone or with other educators, over one hundred articles. He was associate editor later with Early Years, and was a regular writer for Education, both national magazines. He wrote occasional articles for other publications also. For Reader's Digest he developed a series of successful Reading Skills Builders which sold over a million copies. He also produced with other educators, including one daughter and a grandson, a series of some forty pupil activity booklets, teacher aids, and educational games publications. He remained active at this after retiring in 1970, and two such publications, Our Human Body and Our Solar System, are to be published later this year.
As a student, teacher, administrator, and alumnus, he gave much to build and enhance the reputation of the University. Dr. Wagner was a curriculum consultant to the Department of Public Instruction and wrote and edited a series of curricular guides for use by the classroom teacher. Though much of his career was spent as an administrator, his background as a teacher long kept him in touch with the classroom. He delighted in visiting classes and interacting with children at their studies.
After leaving the university he visited schools in Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. He was a member of the U.N.I. Foundation, serving two years as its president, and also of the Alumni Association. He received an Alumni Achievement Award in 1961 and a Service Award in 1974. Dr. Wagner enriched the lives of many students, friends, and colleagues.
He is survived by his wife, Gladys, two daughters and a son, six grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. Burial was in Reinbeck Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Guy Wagner Scholarship Fund at Reinbeck High School.
Robert Eller