Emily Wagner
Emily had a real interest in people and appreciated the quirks or facets of their personalities that made them unique. She was also fascinated by the personalities of the characters in the novels she devoured. Always a voracious reader, as a child, Emily would sit at the kitchen counter and open the conversation with the same phrase “I am reading the BEST book.” Then she would give every detail about characters and plot. In elementary school, she read every book in the C.S. Lewis Narnia series and the Tolkien Lord of the Ring series. But she also loved the Babysitter Club books. She took serious interest in great literature, and again her appreciation of the offbeat led her to read all the books of such authors as F.Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Augusten Burroughs, and Sylvia Plath. Her current favorite was Chuck Palahniuk. Whatever Emily was reading, she wanted to discuss it in detail with the rest of us because she didn’t just read a book; she psychoanalyzed the plot and the characters and commented on particular phrases or paragraphs by writing in the margins of the pages. She used these books to learn how good writers write because she was also interested in becoming a writer herself, and often journaled her thoughts.
Emily was very focused on her profession, interested always in fine tuning her teaching skills. Emily was a strong, focused, hard-working, independent, freethinking individual who approached life with great spontaneity, passion and curiosity. She was also witty and known for her edgy humor. She loved to examine the visual aspects of the world, always had an eye for the dramatic or unusual or striking, and was impressed by beautiful things: finely written novels, well written essays by her students, the differing styles and architecture of big and small cites.
Emily had many close friendships from childhood, college and sorority, Teach For America, Phoenix and Chicago and her workplace. She loved socializing, particularly finding new restaurants to try. Always generous, she delighted in giving the perfect gift or beautifully written card to friends and family.
All her life she has been strong and focused, but in 2010 she had to dig deep to find even more strength, and she did that. She was not bitter, did not complain about her lot in life. She would sometimes be discouraged and sad, but usually she displayed a guarded optimism and unfailing hope she would survive. Her students never knew she had cancer. Continually, the people in Emily’s life this year used the words perseverance, courage, strength, and inspiration as they witnessed her teaching and living and enjoying life while having to deal with the changes in her body. Cancer did not change her. She made herself stronger because she had to deal with it. She continued to teach until four days before the end of the school. All of her doctors commented on the fact that Emily was always so cheerful and positive, and grateful for their help. In her last week, when Emily was hospitalized, a 30 year old doctor spent much time with her. He was struck by the fact she was his age, that she had been teaching up to that weekend, and that she was always thanking him for what he was doing for her. At the end of the three days, he sat next to her and said, “Emily, I will never forget you. You are an inspiration to me to make myself a better person. Because of meeting you, I will try to live a better life.” That is what we, her family, want to do in the future to use her strength, courage, and perseverance as an inspiration to lead better lives to honor her memory.
Emily, we love you.