Frank Wagoner

WAGONER, FRANK L.- Visitation 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at LaGrone Funeral Chapel. Funeral Service will be held 2:00 PM, Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at LaGrone Funeral Chapel.

As part of a group of black folks who homesteaded the open plains southeast of Roswell, NM in the 1920s, the Wagoner family along with the others, faced numerous challenges in their bid for self-reliance. Frank L. Wagoner Sr. was one of several children who made his home in the all-black community called Blackdom.

He was born March 4, 1918 to Gilbert Dillard Wagoner, Sr. and Ruby Rutherford Wagoner. He attended George Washington Carver School from 1934-1935, but dropped out in the ninth grade. During the Depression Frank worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps, and also obtained carpentry training as a teen in Roswell. Afterwards he was drafted into the Army Air Force in 1942. After his discharge, he married Corine Davis on Dec. 24, 1945 - a union under which eight children were raised. After more than five decades of separation, Frank was reunited with the family in 2008, where he resided with them and in nursing home facilities. He died on June 18, 2018 in Las Vegas, NM.

Frank is preceded in death by his parents, Corine Davis Wagoner, stepdaughter, Darlene Brinkley Berry, and siblings, Gilbert Dillard Jr., Frank L., Lloyd Moultrie, and Harold Kenneth, William Kiestler, and John Bernal.

He is survived by sisters Ruby Cleo Husbands of San Francisco, and Doris Constance Wagoner of Wildomar, Calif.; children, Frank L., Jr., (Lorie) of Phoenix, AZ; James of Compton, Calif.; Betty Wagoner Hollins of Houston, Texas; Freddie of Roswell; Nancy of Lemitar, NM; Steve (Earnestine) of Roswell; and Alice of Las Vegas. Frank is also survived by 15 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, two great great- grandchildren, and a host of other relatives.

Pallbearers; Frank L. Wagoner Jr., James Wagoner, Freddie Wagoner,
Steve Wagoner, Mike Wagoner, Jerry Davis, Dean Doram.

Honorary Pallbearers; Robert Berry Jr., Joshua Wagoner, James Richard Wagoner, Michael Wagoner, Paul Wagoner, Matthew Wagoner, Sule Wagoner, Josiah Whitelocke.

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