Janet Odegard Wagner

Janet Odegard Wagner (nee Thiem), 86, of Kansas City, Missouri, passed away March 11, 2023 on what would have been she and her late husband’s 34th wedding anniversary.

She was born in Keokuk, Iowa to Fred W. “Fritz” and Dollie Brown Lawton Thiem. She was one of three surviving children of a family of 12 siblings. 

She graduated from St Peter High School in 1954 and went on to Fontbonne College from there. She met her first husband David Odegard while visiting a friend at the University of Missouri in Columbia and transferred to graduate from MU in 1958. She married David Odegard shortly after graduation and they had two children, Rolf and Gretchen. 

She was a Human Resources manager and consultant for Job Corps. She spent her life dedicated mostly to helping underprivileged youth find their way in life and career. Her early professional career with Job Corp in Kansas City was working with teenagers who had dropped out of high school and needed career skills training and/or education classes to obtain their GED. In retirement she was deeply involved in teaching English as a second language to school age children in her home.

After her divorce in 1980 she transferred to the Little Rock Job Corp. A few years later she met her second and beloved husband Merle Wagner. They married March 11, 1989 and spent their marriage deeply involved and madly in love with one another. A true love story.

She was a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Little Rock and later joined The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Parkville, Missouri after her daughter moved her and Merle to Kansas City MO in order to better care for them.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Merle Gene Wagner, five sisters, Margaret Hawkins, Frieda Bell, Berta Vera Young, Leora Scott, and Velma Dietrich, and four brothers, Sonny Lawton, Frederick Thiem, Robert Thiem, and Jack Lawton. She is survived by her son, Rolf Odegard; daughter, Gretchen Hernandez; sisters, Gretchen Brandt and Shirley Lattenbach; and step-children, Rebecca Daniel, Chris Wagner, Gene Wagner, Andy Wagner, and Rachael Cottam.

Services honoring both Janet and Merle are as follows: Visitation will be held 6:00-8:00 p.m. Thursday, April 20 at Smith Little Rock Funeral Home, 8801 Knoedl Ct. Services will be held 10:00 a.m. Friday, April 21 at the funeral home, followed by interment at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock.