Regina J. Wagner, age 97 , of new Prague died peacefully on Saturday, June 30th, 2018 at Mala Strana Rehabilitation Center. Regina was born on June 4, 1921 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Oscar Jernstrom and Mary Marron. She attended St. Rosalia grade school and high school in Pittsburgh, and graduated with a degree in Home Economics from Mount Mercy College in Pittsburgh. She worked on her masters degree at the University of Wisconsin. She taught home economics to poor children in the Pittsburgh public school system and later taught cooking classes throughout the State of Pennsylvania for Union Gas Company. She met her future husband, Walter Wagner, on a blind date. They were married at St. Rosalia Catholic Church in Pittsburgh on June 11, 1949. They moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Walter worked as a mechanical engineer and salesman for Westinghouse Air Brake Company. After marrying Walter, Regina took great pride in being the mother to their three children and running the family household. When needed she would substitute teach in Catholic Schools, but insisted that she not be paid. She was so grateful to God for having received the gift of a college education, she believed that gift needed to be shared freely without any compensation. She and Walter were the chairpersons of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in the early 1960's. Because of Walter's work, they moved several times between Chicago, Illinois and St. Paul, Minnesota, finally settling in St. Paul in the Summer of 1968. She found great satisfaction and joy in sewing her own clothes, cooking and baking for her family, and cleaning her house. One of her favorite pastimes was playing Bridge. Her greatest joy was in raising her children and rejoicing in her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her great faith in God and a devout prayer life sustained her through many tragedies in her life.
Regina is survived by her sons, Walter of Chicago, and Bob (Ruth) of New Prague; her grandchildren, Andy (Olivia), Luke, Meg, and Beth, Joan (Mike) Prodrazik, Joe, and Nora, and her great-grandchildren, Alyssa, Owen, Aidan, Sydney, Ollie, and Jackson. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Walter, her daughter, Mary Ruth, her parents, her sisters, Ruth and Greta, and her brothers, Ozzie and Bob.