- Date Of Birth: October 30, 2022
- Date Of Death: November 30, 2017
- State: Idaho
GRANGEVILLE: Jennifer Kay Wagner, 52 left us on Thursday, November 30, 2017 to join her Dad Port and Nana Rosemary who helped shape her life. She was born in Grangeville, Idaho on October 30, 1964 and lived there until she graduated from high school.
From the beginning, her positive determined nature took shape. When she was five, she decided to run away and live with the Buffalo in a pasture close by. So, her Mom filled her bag with canned goods so she wouldn’t starve. Jennifer dragged it as far as the mail box and her dad was there, and he said “Get inside you know we eat at five.”
Jennifer was a natural athlete and she grew up in a family that believed women had equal rights. When she was ten, she and a friend went to the grade school principal and won their case to participate in the boy’s punt, pass and kick contest. She came in third. She excelled and won state in mixed tennis doubles and played a respectable game of golf with her Dad, but when it was time to make a choice she chose basketball. Jennifer and her high school teammates, in two consecutive years beat Moscow High and its star Andrea Lloyd, the best female basketball player in the history of Idaho, the only losses Lloyd suffered in her last two years of high school. Jennifer then earned a scholarship to North Idaho College and starred on a team that qualified for the National Junior College Basketball Championships in Mississippi. She was named a West Region All Star and was offered a full-ride scholarship to continue on to the University of Montana, which she eventually turned down. She went on to Boise State University to continue her education. In Boise, she started her career in sales. She worked a number of jobs in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and as far away as Florida, making friends all along the way. Her bubbly personality, gift for gab and ability to show genuine interest in her business acquaintances made her a natural and successful salesperson. More than one observer used the phrase “She could sell ice cubes to Eskimos” to describe her. She continued her lifelong love of sports, excelling in golf, tennis, softball, soccer, skiing, waterskiing, barrel racing and just about everything else she tried.
Jennifer never married, but had loving people in her life until her untimely passing from cancer. She suffered a life-changing medical crisis in 2009, teetering on the edge of the death predicted for her by all her medical professionals, but was miraculously loved back to life by her mother Poofy. Jennifer spent the last eight years of her life embracing the AA recovery community where she shared great friendships and served as an exemplary role model and inspiration for many. She said, “you have to do the work”. She did the work and won. Her support group in Coeur D’ Alene are remarkable, along with her friends and family.
She was preceded in death by her biggest sports fan, her dad Al “Port” Wagner Jr.
