Raymond Joseph Wagner

Raymond J. Wagner (Ray) died early Easter Sunday morning (April 21, 2019) at his home in Hollywood Heights. He was born on January 21, 1955, in Newark, New Jersey. During his late teens, taking his banjo with him, he hitched all around the United States getting to know the country. Ray was a proud union member and served as Grievance Chairman at United Steelworkers Local 9231. He started out as a steelworker at Inland Steel in East Chicago, and assisted in the opening of I/N Tech and I/N Kote in New Carlisle. He pursued his guitar, banjo and harmonica, singing, creating songs, writing for publication, gardening, composting and reading. He became a Catholic-turned-Buddhist. Ray's two sons, Kurt Wagner born in 1983 and Russell Wagner born in 1987, participated in Ray's marriage service with Delcie Southall in 1996, and she became the boys' step-mother. Ray's father Joseph Wagner, Sr., and mother Bernadette (now both deceased) had five more children in addition to Ray: Joseph Wagner, Jr., Theodore Wagner, Robert Wagner, Susan Wagner-Bartko and Mark Wagner.